A Double Life
by Sacrowhunter
Summary: Sasuke Uchiha is the average teen boy. He has a family, a mom, dad, and kid sister to look after. Also he gets random headaches and see's a different world, and a familiar voice calling to him. Why does the life around him seem so fragile? And who's voice is it that beckons him? And why do the soul reapers have an eye on him?
1. Chapter 1

Ch. 1 - Stepping into a new life

Disclaimer: Neither Naruto nor Bleach belong to me, it's a sad truth, but I've come to accept it.

...

In the eyes of the many, the loss of one life for the sake of everyone else doesn't seem like a big loss. Their just one and they are more than that, but even so how does one choose whether to save one life, or forsake them for the many.

It was a hard truth in the world of the soul reapers, not a choice at all, but a necessary fact of life. The one never outweighed the many, even the few could hardly stand against the odds. Once in a lifetime was the many versus the one challenged, and that's once in a soul reaper's lifetime.

A loud sound sent the soul society into a panic. Seated officers ran from their barracks to address the situation, but in no way an orderly fashion.

Head captain Yamamoto stood at the edge of the tower that looked out over the entirety of the Gotei 13, his staff in hand. The surprise wasn't etched into the old wrinkles on his face, but it was there.

An energy disturbance of massive proportions had just set off their scanners. The soul pressure emitted was in no way natural and it didn't even belong to a soul reaper – that much he could tell. The same instant the energy appeared it also vanished like it had never existed.

The head captain watched as the squad raced around in panic, searching something that was there no longer. He could easily let them know but he left that to the captains of each squad. He knew they were capable of calming and regaining control of the situation.

Footsteps sounded from behind the elder man. He didn't even turn; already knowing who it was that was approaching him.

A white haired soul reaper, sporting an also white captain's uniform, walked up behind the head captain and kneeled. "Head Captain Yamamoto, there was a massive disturbance, do you know what's happening?"

The head captain's head lowered for a moment, as if he was considering the possibilities. "Something has entered our world."

"Sir, you don't mean a hollow with that kind of soul pressure?"

"It wasn't a hollow."

"Then what was it, Sir?"

"I do not know, Captain Ukitake." The head captain said, "Bring me the captain of the second division."

"Yes, Head captain Yamamoto."

Captain Ukitake disappeared and Yamamoto just continued to stare out into the starry night sky.

...

_Sasuke... you need to hear me, Sasuke..._

A familiar dream played through Sasuke's mind, one he'd had far too many times to care. The voice of another speaking to him, the blood dripping from his hands, and his sword lying on the cold stone archway of some goliath structure – yep it was the same dream he had almost every night.

_The fate of the one, against the fate of the many._

The line seemed to be on a skip as it played through his mind as much as the dreams. He didn't understand it or care either way.

"Sasuke, you need to wake up." A nagging voice called into his room.

His eyes opened slowly to blinding light flooding in from his open window. The rays confused his vision as he stared up at the tall dark haired woman he knew as his mother. Her hands were on her hips and she wore the "I can't believe you" look as she stood above him.

"Mom, what time is it?" Sasuke asked under the comforts of his blanket.

"It's time for you to get your butt out of bed," Sasuke's mom said with a stern expression on her face. "You don't want to be late for your first day at a new school."

Yeah, because that was a big deal, he'd been to many schools before this one and was always top of his class, and that was with as little care and patience as he could afford. "Yeah, Mom, I'll be up in a sec."

She smiled at him, a warm caring smile that felt oddly warming to him. He smiled back as he threw the covers off of himself. His mom left the room, giving him plenty of time to grab his clothes and dress very quickly. He ran to the bathroom and exited looking as ready as he'd ever be.

Sasuke Uchiha was a regular fifteen year old boy, whose family happened to travel around a lot. His family included his mom Mikoto Uchiha, his father Fugaku Uchiha, and his thirteen year old sister Isami Uchiha. They just moved to Karakura town that summer and had barely settled in before classes were scheduled to begin.

Sasuke didn't like the town. It gave off an odd presence at all times. When they first moved in he didn't leave his house much and even inside his home he could feel that waves of some dark energy pulsing all over town. That didn't even cover the weird people that lived there, there were always fights going on at all times of the day.

He hadn't made any friends yet but that was how Sasuke worked. He never let anyone other than his family get close and that's the way he liked it. It would be less people to cry at his funeral, though that's a little bit of a sad thought, even for him.

Sasuke walked down the stairs to see his family huddled around the table. His dad flipped through the newspaper while his mom and sister chatted away as they ate breakfast. Sasuke took his seat without a word and poured cereal into his bowl.

Fugaku put laid his newspaper on the table and studied his son for a moment. Sasuke noticed but didn't give any reaction. His father was a very strict and scrutinizing man, but also kind hearted, but mostly to his sister Isami.

His father had black hair, like his, and the same stoic look, while his mother had almost always a smile on her face. His sister had black hair as well, usually pulled back in a thick pony held together by a dark blue ribbon. She had blue eyes though, unlike the rest of the Uchiha family who had onyx eyes.

"Sasuke, are you excited to be starting school so soon?" Fugaku asked.

Sasuke knew he was just trying to make light conversation. For the longest time all Sasuke wanted was to make his father proud – his grades, sport awards, and other activities proved it – but he soon found that he and his father had nothing in common and his father wasn't easily impressed. So he gave up on trying achieving the impossible.

"Sure," Sasuke said. His father smiled and went back to his paper. At least he was satisfied with that answer. Sasuke and his father had one thing in common, they liked to say as little as possible.

"So are you going to walk me to school today?" Isami asked.

"Don't we go to the same school now?"

"Yeah, but some brothers might think they're too cool to walk with their little sisters to school."

"Well lucky you then, because I'm not that kind of brother," Sasuke said and gave his little sister a pat on the head.

"Hey, hey," she swatted his hand away. "I worked for two hours trying to get my hair perfect."

Sasuke smirked. "It took you two hours to put your hair in a pony?" Sasuke looked to his dad who gave a small chuckle and took a drink of his coffee.

"You two should be heading off to school soon, right?" Mikoto said.

Sasuke nodded and picked his backpack up off of the floor. "Come, Isami. We really should hurry."

Isami stood and grabbed her pink back pack, clearly ready to go. She followed him out the door and into the bright and early day.

They walked silently along the sidewalks of the semi-busy Karakura town. Since it was a school day they could see many other children walking to school or riding the bus. Sasuke kept his mind focused as always.

A new school meant a new set of problems. It would mean two things for certain, new fangirls, and new rivals. That's what school came down to most of the time, and it really wasn't his fault. All he wanted was to learn in peace and excel in all his classes, then go home and read.

Life couldn't get much better than that? But he was always annoyed by the amount of people that would surround him as the 'new kid', which happened a lot since his family travelled so much.

He just wished for once people would ignore him, make him an oblivious thing, more like the scenery than the center of attention.

Sasuke and Isami walked around the corner and could see the school now. It didn't look like anything special, a big main building, a few side buildings for other classes, and a few fields to the side for outside activities and sports. It looked like every other school he'd ever been to, and it was looking to be another great start to a school he wouldn't stay at longer than a year.

...


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2 – New School, New Faces, Same Problems

Disclaimer: Neither Naruto nor Bleach belong to me.

...

Sasuke and Isami walked onto the grounds of the school and noticed immediately the large number of people running about. Sasuke stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked up to the largest building. He stopped when he felt a tug at his sleeve.

"I'm going to go find my class now." Isami said.

Sasuke nodded to her and entered the main building. He proceeded down the halls until he reached an office looking room. Before he walked in, he noticed a piece of paper on the door. It had his name and a few others on it with room numbers and all.

"Well, that's easy enough." Sasuke walked towards the stairs, since his class was apparently a few stories up.

This school seems rather big, he thought as he transcended the steps. He'd only been to small schools before this one. Though he was kind of excited for the change, hopefully he could blend into the crowd, and never have to deal with his peers.

That was his hopeful side speaking, he really should ignore it more often.

Finally Sasuke got to the top floor where his class was being held. Students were flooding in around him, there was barely enough room to move. And already he was tired of this place.

Sasuke saw his class number and entered as quietly as he could. More students stood around desks and talked loudly, he did the best he could to get to an open seat in the back of the classroom.

The attention of a few followed him as he sat down. Sasuke gave no notice as he pulled out a book and started reading. Sasuke could hear the voices of his classmates talking about him.

"Who is he?" A boy asked.

"I don't know, but he's kind of cute." A girl said with a chuckle.

"Really? He looks really pissed off to me."

"That's usually part of the charm." A barrage muffled giggles flooded the room.

"I'll never understand women." The boy said, flustered.

Sasuke ignored the useless chit chat and continued reading his book. The best ability he had was the ability to ignore all that was around him. He could tune out noises in a pinch, and he was grateful he could. The talking about him soon stopped but Sasuke noticed someone took a seat next to him.

Then the seat in front of him was filled, and the seat to his left. He was surrounded by three people, but he didn't want to acknowledge them, though he could feel them looking directly at him.

"Are you new here?" A girl on his left asked.

Sasuke placed his book on his desk. "Yeah," he said.

"What kind of greeting was that, Tatsuki?" A girl with orange hair said.

"Well, it was the best I could do."

The red headed girl smiled and held out her hand to him. "Hi I'm, Orihime Inoue, it's nice to meet you."

Sasuke looked her hand for a moment before taking it. "Sasuke Uchiha," he said.

"Sasuke, what a nice name, that's Tatsuki Arisawa, my best friend." Orihime smiled at him.

Sasuke was incapable of returning the look. He turned back to his book.

"So did you just transfer here?" Tatsuki asked.

They sure do ask a lot of questions. "I moved here at the start of the summer vacation. This is my first time at this school though."

"Where'd you move from?" Orihime asked.

"All over, my family moves around a lot." Sasuke feigned a smile to the best of his ability. He wanted to appear cold to these two but he just couldn't bring himself to it.

"That sounds rough but kind of interesting." Tatsuki said.

"It's not too bad," Sasuke said and leaned back in his chair. "I probably won't be here long, I heard my dad saying we might move to America next."

Keigo nudged Ichigo causing him to look up from his desk. "What is it?"

"New kid," Keigo said.

"So?"

"Don't you want to say hi or something?"

"Not really." Ichigo said and turned and said to Chad, "You want to strike up a conversation with the new guy?"

"Sure, why not?" Chad said and stood up to walk over to his desk.

"You too, Chad?" Ichigo said and groaned. "Fine, let's say hi."

Sasuke watched four other students surround his desk. Sasuke studied the tallest one, he was almost twice as tall as Sasuke with brown hair that covered his eyes. The other ones were relatively tall but one had short orange hair, while the other two had black and brown hair.

"Hi," Ichigo said. "You must be the new guy."

Sasuke stared up at the orange haired guy. "Do you always greet the new students like this?"

"Not usually, no, but today we were feeling genuinely kind." Ichigo said and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm Ichigo Kurasaki, and these two are Keigo and Mizuiro. The tall guy's Chad."

"Nice to meet you all I guess." Sasuke said. A few minutes later the teacher entered the classroom and quieted all the students down.

Sasuke was almost relieved when she came in. He couldn't keep up his nice guy act for long, maybe he shouldn't even bother.

"And class we have a new student." The teacher said, and had Sasuke walk up to the front of the class. "Introduce yourself and tell us a little about you."

Sasuke sighed as he walked to the front of the classroom. All eyes were on him now, those that didn't see him before now knew he was new. He looked out over the sea of faces. New school, new faces, but same old problems.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha and I just transferred here today. There's not much to me really, I like to read and keep to myself a lot." Sasuke said and returned to his seat. He hoped he'd never have to do that again.

...

Captain Ukitake sat in his office, breathing in incense and trying to relax. His body was always succumbing to sickness, and he could deal with that, but it got in the way a lot. He didn't understand it either, and didn't like it, but he had to live with it.

Just as he started to relax into a meditation he heard his door slide open. He turned to one of his seated officers, Rukia Kuchiki.

"You said you wanted to see me, Captain Ukitake?" Rukia bowed in front of him.

"Yes, Rukia, I've been put in charge of investigating the strange disturbance that occurred yesterday. I am to pick someone to go to the world of the living and I've decided on you since you have the most experience there."

"Are you sure, Captain? Aren't there better candidates than I?"

"No," Captain Ukitake smiled. "I could think of no one better than you. All we need is for you to look for anything that might be out of the normal or dangerous and report back to me."

Rukia bowed her head. "I will do my best, Captain."

Ukitake nodded and Rukia was gone. He smiled to himself and went back to his incense.

...

Sasuke walked out of the main building with the day finally over. The school day that is, he still needed to do a few things before he went home. He waited in front of the school for his sister to come out. She did love to take her sweet old time with these kinds of things.

Sasuke leaned against one of the stone pillars in front of the school and crossed his arms.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?"

Sasuke opened his eyes at the voice of the girl he'd met earlier, Tatsuki. She stared at him curiously. "I'm waiting for my sister."

"You have a sister?" Tatsuki asked.

"Is that so unusual?" Sasuke said, looking a little irritated.

"No, just unexpected." Tatsuki said and smiled at him.

Isami walked out right at that moment, she waved to her new friends, and stopped next to her brother. "Hey, Sasuke..." She said but stopped and looked at Tatsuki. "Do you have a girlfriend already, Sasuke?"

Tatsuki has a small blush on her face.

Sasuke ignored her comment. "We need to be going – it was nice meeting you, Tatsuki."

Tatsuki shook her head. "Yeah, I'll see you around."

Sasuke and Isami walked down the unreasonably quiet streets of Karakura town. It wasn't like he expected this town never to be quiet, but it felt strangely so. The air seemed to be heavier than usual too.

It was the dark presence he felt every day in this town. He couldn't get over the dark feeling he was getting. He could feel the eyes of someone or something watching him.

"Hey, Isami, you know the way home right?" Sasuke asked.

"Of course, but why do you ask?"

"I need you to go home without me. I forgot I had to go do something." Sasuke said.

"But-" Isami tried to speak but Sasuke stopped her.

Sasuke gave her his only genuine smile. "Don't worry - I'll be home before dinner."

Isami smiled and ran along the path that took them home. Sasuke walked down one of the alleys where he felt the presence but saw nothing. He continued down the alley until he went down another, and two more after that, he followed the energy he was feeling.

Sasuke felt a dominating energy appear out of nowhere. It was almost enough to force him to the ground. "What is this?"

Sasuke look up to see a giant spider looking creature wearing a white mask, swoop down on him. He jumped from its path and skidded on his arm. A small cut but it was better than being crushed.

He stared at the creature with a hole in its chest. It looked like it was after him, nope scratch that, it was definitely after him. But what was it and why him?

Those two questions played in his mind as he kept dodging the creature. He picked up the biggest rock he could find and threw it at the thing's mask. It smashed with a sickening thud but the mask didn't break. He ran for a few minutes but it was too late, the thing caught up to him and he was cornered in the alley.

"I really didn't see it ending this way." Sasuke said.

The creature struck, Sasuke readied himself to dodge or at least block with his arms, but the claw of the giant creature stopped. Sasuke looked from behind his arm defense and saw a familiar face holding a giant sword with an unfamiliar girl standing at his side.

"Hado no. 37 Shakkaho!" the girl screamed as fire shot from her hands and knocked the creature away.

Sasuke recognized finally the person that stood before him. It was Ichigo, the guy from his class, but now he was dressed in a black samurai like outfit and so was the girl fighting alongside him.

He was confused but he continued to watch the fight until Ichigo slashed the mask in two and the creature vanished, fading into obscurity. Along with it went the immense pressure Sasuke felt on his chest but now he could feel an even stronger energy coming from Ichigo and the girl with him.

"What a random attack from a hollow, was that why you're here, Rukia?" Ichigo asked, completely oblivious to Sasuke standing behind him.

"No, that was just something extra I guess."

Sasuke put his hand on Ichigo's shoulder. He turned to Sasuke and his eyes widened.

"You can see me?"

"Of course I can see you, and what was that giant thing you just killed?" Sasuke asked.

Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other. It seemed like a silent discussion was going on between them. Did they have the power of telepathy, it seemed improbable but so did most of this day.

"That was a hollow." Rukia said, "It appears it was after you, though you don't have much spiritual energy, so I don't understand how you can even see us."

Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck. "Sasuke, this is Rukia – Rukia this is the new guy I was telling you about."

"You stayed cool under pressure there, do you fight a lot?" Rukia asked.

Ichigo put his palm on his face and said, "That's a great way to introduce yourself."

"Oh, right, my apologies. I'm Rukia Kuchiki, a friend of Ichigo's."

Sasuke looked between them. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha, and if you don't mind, I've introduced myself too many times today."

The two looked at each other again, another silent conversation. Sasuke started to walk off. Rukia grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him back.

"Wait I have a few questions for you?" Rukia said.

"Shouldn't this be the other way around?" Sasuke smirked.

Rukia pulled out a pencil and paper. "Okay, ask away."

Ichigo pushed between them. "Enough with your crappy drawings, what do you want to know Sasuke?"

"First, what are you?"

"Soul reaper, and substitute soul reaper." Ichigo said. Rukia smacked him hard on the back of his head with her foot.

She pulled one of her drawings from her kimono and handed it to Sasuke. A picture of a rabbit that looked happy and a rabbit that looked sad on each side of the paper.

"That thing you saw was a hollow and soul reapers are here to kill them." Rukia said and smiled at her drawing.

"Would you please get off of me." Ichigo pushed but she wouldn't let up.

"Shut up," she said.

"Man, you're heavier than you look." Ichigo said.

Rukia stomped his face into the ground. "What'd you say?"

Sasuke slowly started to back away. "I just remembered I need to be home soon. Is it okay if we continue this tomorrow?"

Sasuke walked off before they could say anything else. Rukia removed her foot from Ichigo. He stood by her and stared at Sasuke's retreating figure.

Ichigo looked at Rukia's puzzled look. "What is it?"

"I don't know. He doesn't have a shred of spiritual pressure, but he can see us, how odd." Rukia raised a hand to her chin.

"Maybe he's just special that way."

"Maybe, but I did notice something else." Rukia said.

"What would that be?"

Rukia looked up and a slight blush came to her cheeks. "He was kind of cute."

Ichigo planted his hand on his face, and that's where it would stay for the rest of the day most likely.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3 – The Voices Part One

"We all have that inner voice that is wise, even if we don't always follow it. It's that voice I'm trying to listen to." – Ray LaMontagn

...

Sasuke's house lay a few streets down from where he stood at that moment. He rubbed the back of his neck as he walked along the empty sidewalk. Sasuke's family didn't live too far from the school. A little more than a few blocks away, but his house was also a little secluded.

Just the way he liked it.

He pushed open the door to his house and stepped into the warm room. His mother was already walking towards him with a smile shining bright on her face.

"Hello, Sasuke, how was your first day of school?" she asked.

"It was nothing special really." Sasuke said and walked towards his room.

She said nothing else as he left but continued to smile. It was a comfort to him, something that he knew would never change, his mother's happy demeanor.

A sudden pain flashed through Sasuke's head. He raised a hand to his temple and placed the other on his door handle, just to keep from falling over.

An image flew through his mind, a corpse, on the floor, and then the image was gone. He didn't know what just happened but it sent a chill down his spine. Was he losing his mind?

That thought scared him, it created a pain in his chest, and he couldn't explain either one. He pushed the door into his room open and fell on his bed. He stared at the ceiling for a few minutes as the pain subsided.

_You need to remember, Sasuke..._

His hand went to his temple again as a sound rang through his head. It was a voice, a loud voice calling to him. His name was repeated several times over the sound of things breaking, was he going insane?

It seemed that way but the voice finally stopped yelling in his head. The sound of silence soothed him more than it should. He closed his eyes trying to block out everything as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

A small whisper was said just as he passed out.

_You can't escape your past... and you will not escape me._

...

Ichigo sat on the edge of his bed with a book in his hand. He tapped his foot to some unheard song as he read. He felt the energy earlier, the same one the soul reapers were looking into now.

They had good reason to search the world of the living. Especially Karakura town, which seemed to always be at the center of every paranormal thing that happened, and that was hard to explain but it didn't seem too off for Ichigo.

A thought of Sasuke popped into his mind. He was the new kid, and he just happened to show up at the same time as the huge spiritual energy disturbance. It was like putting two and two together, if only it were that easy.

Rarely, if ever was that the case. He could surmise that there was something darker working behind the scenes, but Sasuke would be a good place to start his investigation.

Rukia jumped from Ichigo's closet with a fierce look covering her petite features. Ichigo jumped and lost his train of thought. "How long have you been in there?" Ichigo pointed at Rukia.

"I've been in there." Rukia said, "Honestly I thought you'd be used to it by now."

Ichigo looked down. "Well what's up?"

Rukia's features hardened. "It's a hollow, and a strong one."

...

Sasuke awoke several hours later. He rubbed at his eyes as his vision began to focus on the dark of his room. He looked to his right and saw a plate of food wrapped in tin foil with a note lying on top of it.

He tilted his head at the note but decided to open it.

_Went to see a movie, you looked so tired I didn't want to wake you, plus I figured you wouldn't want to see a girl movie anyway. I'm forcing your father to sit through it, but that's enough pain for one man._

_ I wrapped your food for you, love you and see you when we get back._

_ Love, Mom._

Sasuke smiled. That was definitely a note his mother would leave. She did love to annoy his always serious father. A chick flick was definitely not his thing. He'd much rather just sit at home alone and watch TV or read a book.

Sasuke looked out the window and just noticed the sun was nearly gone from the sky. The stars were already in view and the sky was a beautiful orange color.

On nights like these he used to watch the stars with his sister. She would smile and laugh while pointing at the constellations and ask him questions about the sky. She was very inquisitive for being only a few years younger than him. He read several books about the stars and constellations, so he would easily answer all her questions and then some.

Those were some of his fondest memories. Back before the headaches, those were recent, and he never got used to them. He had pills for them but all they did was make the headaches less frequent, but they would hurt twice as much. The second one almost split his skull, so he stopped taking them. He preferred many small painful migraines to the overly painful single ones.

It was easier to take the pain gradually. And that seemed to work for him, but his parents worried. They didn't think he should be off the medication, and more than once advised him to try a different kind that he was prescribed but he knew they wouldn't work. There was clearly something else at work here.

For all the pain that throbbed through his head, he still could hear the voice, the deep and loud voice that made him want to listen intently. Every time the voice came though, so did the massive head trauma. He tried to tune out the pain once, just to hear the voice but to no avail.

Sasuke picked up his food and headed downstairs. He walked slowly down the stairs and stopped in his living room, right next to his kitchen, and saw a shadow move just out of the corner of his eye. He turned but saw nothing. Placing his food on the counter, he headed towards his open kitchen door.

"Why is this open?" He closed the door and headed back into the house but not before a cold wind swept by him and moved his hair from his face.

He took no head to the ominous sign as he sat on his couch. He reached down and realized he left his food on the table. Letting out a sigh, he got up and grabbed the tin foil covered food and resumed his seat.

Taking off the foil, he clicked on the television. He picked at his food but he knew he wasn't really hungry. He looked down at the food and had no appetite, but he ate it anyway. His mother did make it for him – well for the family – but he was part of the family, so it was for him too.

A loud sound shook Sasuke from his thoughts. It was the door, a door opening and slamming. It was too loud to be anything else. Putting his food down on the table next to the couch, he ran for the kitchen door and saw it hanging on its hinges.

"What the hell..."Sasuke was thrown back by some invisible force.

His breath caught in his throat, his shoulders ached from the wall he smashed into, and his hand immediately went to his chest. He regained his breath and looked up but still didn't see anything. The air around him was heavy again, just like before, just like with the hollow.

The light of his kitchen reflected off something. He followed the reflection to a white mask on a creature that wasn't even nearly as big as the one that attacked him earlier but it was able to fit in his house.

It had a white mask over a dog looking body. He had a long tail that whipped around everything in his kitchen, knocking things off the counter. Drool fell in small pools from its opened mouth.

Sasuke struggled to get to his feet and felt the sting not just from his shoulders erupt. His head was an explosion of agony. He grabbed at it, just as the creature whipped its tail around his throat.

This has to be the worse time for the headaches to happen. Someone out there had to be laughing at the irony of this situation. He cringed as his neck began to collapse under the pressure of the hollow.

Sasuke's vision blurred with each passing second. The headaches were nothing compared to the terrible strain on his throat. He completely blacked out.

...

"Wake up, Sasuke!" A voice called out to him.

He gave no response.

"I'm not ready to die yet, stupid boy. You better wake up before the hollow kills us both."

Sasuke faintly heard the voice talking to him. It was hard for him to understand what was being said.

"He won't die. He's far too stubborn for that."

Sasuke recognized the second voice, not the first, but the second was definitely the voice he heard in his dreams. He tried to speak but felt the tendril of a tail continue to squeeze the life out of him.

A phrase continued to repeat from both the voices. He couldn't make out what was being said, but it was being said urgently, almost like they were yelling in his ear. Finally the phrase made sense to him, at least the words did.

"Use the Chidori!"

Chidori? Sasuke thought, what the hell is that?

Sasuke's eyes opened as the hollow screeched in his face. He still had life in him, he could feel it, but he wasn't able to move his body.

His hand shot up and grabbed the tail with a vice like grip he didn't know he had. He closed his eyes but not because he was about to pass out again, but instead because he was focusing his energy.

Lightening formed in his hand, he didn't know from where it came, but he was glad for it. The lightening flowed through the tail of the hollow and sent a deep shock to the beast. Its tail unhinged from his neck and he fell to the floor, gasping for breath, with a dark red mark lined around his neck.

His living room door flew open again just as Ichigo and Rukia came at the hollow but it was already fleeing through the open kitchen door. Rukia ran to his side.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

That's the world's dumbest question. "Yeah, I should be fine."

Ichigo sheathed his blade, well placed it back on his back, and kneeled next to Sasuke. "That's two hollows in one day. What are you doing to attract them?"

"I don't know, I don't even know what those things want." Sasuke said, "I just woke up a few moments ago and it was already attacking me."

Rukia stood. "We'll just have to keep an eye on you to make sure you and your family stay safe."

Sasuke's frown deepened. "No thanks, I don't need babysitters."

"Listen," Rukia grabbed Sasuke by the collar of the white shirt he was wearing. "You were almost killed by two hollows today, you're lucky to be alive, and you won't even accept our help?"

Ichigo put his hand on Rukia's shoulder. She nodded, wanted to yell, but conceded and walked out of the house still steaming. Ichigo pulled a piece of paper from his kimono, wrote on it, and handed it to Sasuke.

"Go there, he may be able to help you, he helped me." Ichigo said and followed Rukia.

Sasuke took the note and read it over and over in his head. "Urahara shop, what kind of place is that?"


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4 – The Voices Part Two

"Your mind knows only some things. Your inner voice, your instinct, knows everything. If you listen to what you know instinctively, it will always lead you down the right path."

- Henry Winkler

...

Sasuke stood outside of a small building, not much bigger than a small store, and looking a little out of place surrounded by the large buildings. It wasn't a little out of place, it was entirely out of place, and didn't work well with its surroundings.

The tiny building was even more dwarfed by the giant structures surrounding it. Sasuke was lucky to even find this place. So hidden, and not like anything he'd ever seen before. Ichigo did give him pretty good directions, and it was exactly how Rukia had drawn it as well, except without the bunnies.

He proceeded up the steps, but stopped, the headache came back. He ignored it and knocked on the sliding door. The tips of his fingers rested against his temple as he waited. This seemed like a really inappropriate time for his head to hurt, but he pressed on.

As he raised his hand to knock, someone came to the door. A short girl with black hair and big eyes answered. She cocked her head to the side as if she were examining him with her piercing eyes.

"We're not open today, can I help you with something?" the girl asked.

Sasuke removed his hand from his head and relaxed at her king voice. "A friend of mine told me to come and see a Mr. Urahara?"

The girl cocked her head to the side again. "The boss is kind of busy today."

"I understand, but this is kind of an emergency."

"What kind of an emergency?"

Sasuke tapped his foot. "It's a hollow emergency."

Without another word, she walked away from the door and allowed him to enter. She waved a hand at him and he followed closely behind her. There were weird things sitting on shelves around the shop, he would definitely need to ask about those later.

But for now, he needed to question the shopkeeper.

Sasuke walked into a small room with a table in the center and a man sitting at one end. He looked up at Sasuke, smiled, and closed a fan he was carrying.

"Ah," the shopkeeper said. "You must be Sasuke – Ichigo told me you were coming. Please take a seat."

Sasuke sat across the table from the shopkeeper. A small stuffed animal carried over a pot of coffee and set it down in front of him with a cup and plate. Sasuke looked at the strange thing, but didn't question it as he poured himself a cup.

"So why have you come to see me on such a fine day, Sasuke?" The shopkeeper asked.

Sasuke took a quick sip of his coffee and placed it on the plate. "Yesterday I was attacked by two hollows. Ichigo said you could help me find out why."

The shopkeeper scratched at his beard. "That seems a little strange. I mean I don't feel a single shred of spiritual pressure in you."

"What does that mean?" Sasuke asked.

"Usually hollows are attracted to spiritual energy, and spiritual energy gives off a pressure, and that's usually how we gauge someone's strength." The shopkeeper said, "But I don't feel you giving off any kind of energy, and the fact that you can see Ichigo and Rukia in their soul reaper states is also curious."

Sasuke stared at the man for a second as he digested the information. It seemed familiar to him somehow, but at the same time, entirely confusing. "Can others not seem them like that?"

"Not unless their spiritually aware, which I guess means you have to be, but..." he trailed off. "Come with me Sasuke."

Sasuke stood and followed him to another room. It was slightly bigger than the last room but not much was different. The shopkeeper picked up a cane and pointed it at Sasuke.

"This may make you dizzy." He said and before Sasuke could say anything he jabbed Sasuke in the forehead with it.

He felt a sensation like falling and opened his eyes to see himself, or a body that looked like him, hitting the floor. He stared for a few seconds and touched where he stood and felt a body still.

"Just like I thought," the shopkeeper said. "You were in a gigai this whole time."

"I was in a what?" Sasuke touched in chest and the rest of his body. It was the same body that was lying on the floor.

A sudden burst of spiritual pressure flew from Sasuke's body. The shopkeeper grabbed his hat as the pressure almost blew it away. Sasuke felt the energy surging through his body and was more than confused by it.

"You were in a gigai, a body that allows people in the world of the living to see you. The one you were in was really well crafted - you even have a chain hanging from your chest that seems to be attached to it."

"What?" Sasuke just noticed the long metal chain hanging from his chest.

"This chain seems different somehow though, it's not attached to the body like it would be if you were alive, more like its being continuously extended as long as you're in the gigai. That's very interesting."

"Wait," Sasuke said as he stared wide eyed at the body on the floor. "That's not my body and I'm dead?"

The shopkeeper rubbed his chin and smiled. "Well yeah, but only in the technical sense, you're actually a ghost right now but also being kept alive inside this gigai."

Sasuke regained his posture and senses. He walked towards the bod-gigai lying on the ground in front of him. "So then how did I end up that thing?"

"You didn't know you were in a gigai?"

"No, I always thought I was a normal person. I don't remember dying or being placed inside of that." Sasuke said.

The shopkeeper placed his hand on his chin again. "Well this gets more and more interesting by the moment. What I really want to know is who made this gigai and how they were able to keep you alive by giving you a faux body."

"Does this explain the headaches?" Sasuke asked.

The shopkeeper perked up at that. "Headaches?"

Sasuke nodded. "Ever since I was little I used to hear these voices, but it was never anything, and eventually I grew out of it. Until recently I've been hearing the voices again, but they come with these massive headaches that almost cripple me at times."

"Hmm, that's interesting. Do you know what the voice is saying?"

"Voices," Sasuke said. "There are two of them, and no, I can't hear them because of the headaches. They seem to be blocking me from whatever they're trying to say. I know there are two voices though because one sounds kind of like me but the other... it sounds so different."

The shopkeeper lowered his head in thought. "I don't know how I can help really. Sounds like you might need to try something a little different from what I can do."

"So what, do I just go home and pretend like nothing has happened?" Sasuke asked.

He nodded. "That's about all I can do for you right now. I'll send Ichigo and Rukia to your place later, just to make sure nothing tries to kill you like they have been."

Sasuke focused on the gigai on the floor. "So how do I get back into that thing?"

"You just get into it, it's not hard. I'm sure you'll figure it out." He said.

Sasuke walked over to his gigai and put his hand on it. It felt different, like it wasn't him anymore, and it wasn't. It was a whole new thing, which he inhabited. Not a body really, not his either, though it most likely did belong to him since no one was trying to take it away from him.

Sasuke tried to get back into the body but he couldn't. He tried again but nothing happened. He looked to the shopkeeper for a moment and rubbed the back of his head.

"I must be doing something wrong." Just as the words escaped his mouth, the chain that fell from his chest, broke. The end broke from the gigai and began to deteriorate at a steady speed.

"What's happening?" Sasuke asked, staring at the chain.

"Your soul chain broke."

"But how and what happens when it reaches the final link?"

The shopkeeper became very serious. He dropped his fan and said, "You became a hollow."

...

Ichigo walked alongside Rukia, Orihime, Tatsuki, and Chad as they walked out of school. He had his bag over his shoulder, carrying it one hand. The others were chatting among themselves, mostly Orihime, Tatsuki, and Rukia.

Chad walked next to Ichigo, silent as always. Ichigo didn't mind that his best friend was silent though. It made them a good match in his mind. The very serious Ichigo with the friendly but not talkative Chad, yeah, they were a good match.

Rukia stopped, as did the rest of the group.

"Did you feel that?" Rukia asked.

"Yeah," Ichigo said.

"What was it?" Orihime asked.

"Whatever it was, it's really strong." Ichigo said, "And it came from the direction of Urahara's shop."

They all paused in that moment. Even Tatsuki seemed to sense what they were talking about. Ichigo ran and the others followed.

...

Sasuke stood in an underground area that he'd just been told was for training. The chain from his chest was still dissipating. He didn't want to be a hollow, and the shopkeeper, who said his name was Kisuke Urahara, said he knew a way that he didn't have to become a hollow without sending him to the soul society.

He trusted him for now. He had no reason not to, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice anyway.

"What are we doing here, Kisuke?" Sasuke asked as he examined his surroundings.

Kisuke walked up behind Sasuke and pushed him forward. Sasuke didn't see anything in front of him but soon he found himself falling into a giant hole that seemed bottomless. He reached for the wall but kept falling.

Finally, he hit the ground with a thud and rolled back to his feet. "What the hell? What is this?"

"You have to become a soul reaper before your chain turns into a gaping hole in your chest." Kisuke said, "If you can't become a soul reaper then I will be forced to kill you, sorry about meeting like this."

Sasuke growled. "How do I become a soul reaper? You never told me that?"

"You need to reach the top, if you can do that, then you'll become a soul reaper."

Sasuke cursed under his breath. "Easy for you to say," he said.

Sasuke ran full speed at the wall and began to climb. His feet moved faster than he knew they could, making climbing the wall easier than expected. Gravity finally got to him and he fell to the ground. Pain shot through his back as he realized he landed on a rock, but he couldn't give up.

_Jump!_

The voice that was in his head spoke very clearly, and for the first time, he understood what they were saying. He ran and jumped but didn't go anywhere. Again he ran and jumped. He felt the air beneath him get lighter, but still didn't get anywhere near the top of the hole.

S_asuke, you don't need to escape this hole, just give in to your secret desire. You want to become a hollow, all that power, no one would be able to stop you, stop us._

_ Don't listen, Sasuke. You have the power of a soul reaper already inside you. You just need to unleash it._

Sasuke heard both voices and felt the soul reaper energy burning in him. It exploded in a massive burst of energy. He jumped and flew straight up through the hole and landed a few feet from the opening of the prison he'd once been in.

Dressed in a black kimono, holding a sword, and no longer with a chain hanging from his chest, he stood in awe of his own power. He could feel the spiritual pressure he was emitting, and knew he had done it.

Kisuke walked towards him, he slowly clapped his hands together. "Wow, I knew you could do it, but never before have I seen someone able to do it so fast. You were in there no more than ten minutes before you emerged. We need to probably work a little on your spiritual pressure control, we don't want another Ichigo running around, one is more than enough."

Sasuke sheathed his sword. "I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my chest."

"Well that chain was weighing you down a bit." Kisuke said.

"What should I do now?" Sasuke asked.

"I'd say you should go to the soul society for training, but they won't like me sending them people." Kisuke placed his hand on his chin and then said, "I think that's probably for the best."

Sasuke looked down as his hands. He felt a surge of knowledge and they involved his hands. He raised his hand and lightning built around it. Yeah that feels right. The energy dissipated and he returned his attention to Kisuke. "What about my family? My parents and little sister, won't they worry about me once I leave?"

"Sasuke, I don't know entirely what your situation is like, but you need to go to the soul society and enroll in the academy. It's for the best. So you can say your goodbyes to them but you can't stay here forever, especially since the soul society probably felt your spiritual pressure. They might even be sending people this way to recruit you."

Sasuke hung his head. What would he say to his family? He couldn't tell them everything, they would just think he was imagining it, but he wasn't. Would his sister believe him? She did believe a lot of the things he said, though she was a bit naïve.

"So have you made your choice? Either go to the soul society willingly or wait for them to come and find you?"

"I'll go, but I'm not going to stay there. I need to find out who made my gigai, and also who placed me there." Sasuke said, "There's a lot of questions I need answers to, and maybe the soul society would be the best place to start."

Kisuke smiled. "Glad to hear it and once you're ready to go I'll open the door to the soul society for you. Also, there's something I need to tell you."

Sasuke looked over at him and nodded like he was ready to hear what he had to say.

"You were never in danger of becoming a hollow." Kisuke said, "The chain that hung from your chest, I noticed something weird about it, and that was that it wasn't meant to keep your soul to your body, but rather to keep your soul reapers powers concealed by the gigai."

Sasuke looked down at himself. "I've always been a soul reaper?"

"Not exactly, but you were a different kind of soul, not like any of the ones around here. You are special, I don't know how to explain it exactly, but you already had the soul reaper power in you. I just awakened it for you."

Sasuke's features were hardened. "I need to go see my family before I go."

"I understand, I won't keep you any long, Sasuke." Kisuke said, "I hope you find the other answers you seek and come back and tell me all about them."

Sasuke nodded and bowed before leaving.

"Sasuke, I can give you a month."

Sasuke turned to Kisuke. "What about the soul society coming for me?"

"I might be able to fix the gigai so it can conceal you for one whole month, but not any longer."

Sasuke almost felt like smiling and hugging the man, but that would be very out of character for him. "Let's get started then."

...

Kisuke sat on his porch and waited. He knew Ichigo and his friends would be coming. There was no way they hadn't felt that giant wave of spiritual pressure and they'd be here soon. They'd ask questions, ask if everyone was okay, and then ask what they could do to help.

That's how these things always went. The question would be how would they help Sasuke? Even he himself didn't know how to help Sasuke. He helped bring out his inner soul reaper, and that was good, it needed to be done.

The thing that scared Kisuke was the fact that Sasuke had two voices in his head. That could easily mean multiple things. It could easily be a million things if he really wanted to think about it. He could be a vizard like Ichigo, or it could be something much worse than that and it might have worsened it by partially giving Sasuke some vizard powers with the hollowfication technique.

He quietly contemplated that. Ichigo overcame his hollow powers, Sasuke could too, but he had too many unknowns. Maybe he'd made a mistake.

"Guess there's nothing to do now but wait and see." Kisuke said just as Ichigo and the others got to his place. He smiled, right on cue.

...


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5 – The Voices Part Three

"Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone."

- Mahatma Gandhi

...

Sasuke stood outside his house. He knew he had to walk in, sooner or later, but he didn't know what to say to his family. He had a month, and he didn't need to tell them right away, right? They could be told at any time, and that wouldn't be so bad on them would it? Plus if he told them now, well, they would probably give him medication for it.

He already had to drop the other stuff because of the severity of his headaches. Sasuke didn't want to take anymore. It wasn't like they would understand anyway.

"Hey, Sasuke, I didn't know you lived there."

It was a familiar voice that Sasuke heard. He turned to see Tatsuki standing on the porch of the house next to his. She smiled as she walked over to him.

"I should've figured with you being new and all that my new neighbors would probably be you and your family." Tatsuki said.

Sasuke eased up a bit. He was way too tense for him being home. "I didn't expect to be neighbors with a classmate."

"Yeah, well, it happens all the time. Ichigo lives a few blocks down from us." Tatsuki said, "So how do you like our town?"

"It's... nice." He really needed help in the small talk department.

"It's not a bad town. So are you just getting home from somewhere or were you leaving?"

"I just got back from the store."

"With no bags?" Tatsuki nodded at his empty hands.

"Couldn't find what I wanted." Sasuke looked down.

Tatsuki sighed and sat on the last step of her porch. "I know we just met and all... but is there something on your mind?"

You have no idea. "Nothing major, no."

Tatsuki gave him a look like she didn't believe it for one second. "It's okay if you don't want to talk. I mean we are complete strangers basically."

Sasuke dwelled on her words as a light breeze blew through his hair. He looked into her eyes, and felt for a moment something strange. It wasn't a bad strange, more of a comfortable unfamiliarity. He sighed and took a seat next to her on the steps.

"I kind of have to leave my family – not yet – but soon and I don't know how to tell them or what to tell them." Sasuke said, "It's not like me telling them this is going to change what's going to happen though."

"If you don't mind me asking – where are you going?" Tatsuki pulled an apple from a bag she was carrying and bit into it.

Sasuke thought for a moment. He couldn't tell her where he was going, could he? He had to think quick or she would know he was lying. "I have to go see an old friend in the town I moved from."

"Oh, I see, so it's to keep in touch with a friend? So it's a girl then?" Tatsuki asked as she took another bite.

"No it's not a girl, why does it always have to be about a girl?" Sasuke said.

"Because it always is," Tatsuki said and looked down. "Anyway, how do you think your family will react?"

Sasuke shared her view. "That's the problem, I don't know. They won't be happy, that's for sure."

Tatsuki took another bite as she waited for Sasuke to continue.

"It's not like I'm leaving because I want to. I just... need to do this. I have to get answers and this is the only way I know how." Sasuke felt one of the voices in his head try and speak but it was too faint to understand what was said.

"I think this may be a little off topic but would you like to come with me to Orihime's house tomorrow night..." A blush crossed her face. "It wouldn't be a date or anything like that, other people are going like Ichigo, Rukia, and Uryū, but we could get to know you better and maybe you'll feel more at home here."

Sasuke started to say no but saw her face again. She looked different, not that tough girl persona she always had, but had a really sincere look in her eyes. "I'll go if it isn't a bother for everyone else."

"They won't mind I promise." Tatsuki said.

Sasuke stood. "Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

Tatsuki smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

Sasuke started walking back to his house, stopped, and turned to Tatsuki. "Thanks... for talking, I needed that."

Tatsuki smiled as she watched him walk into his house.

...

Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, and Uryū sat around a table in Kisuke's shop. Ichigo wore a serious expression as Kisuke fanned himself. There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, as well as tension you could cut with a knife.

"So what you're saying is Sasuke is a soul reaper now?" Ichigo asked after a while.

"Yes, but not just any kind of soul reaper. He's different from any other soul reaper I've ever seen. He has energy that exceeds that of your everyday soul reaper, and I'm not sure why." Kisuke said as he continued to fan himself.

"Is that the only thing that's strange about him?" Uryū asked.

"No, but it's the only important thing as of now. He says he hears voices too, but only lightly, and I think it's been his zanpakuto trying to talk to him." Kisuke said, "Not sure about the other voice though, he could have some mental problems but it seems unlikely."

"How can he hear his zanpakuto if he didn't have one until recently?" Rukia asked.

"Well, that's the thing. He always had soul reaper powers it seemed. The gigai he was in was special. It concealed all of his spiritual pressure."

"That explains a lot." Ichigo said, "So what do we do about this?"

"Nothing for now, he has a month before he's going to the soul society to learn how to use his powers and get some answers." Kisuke said, "I think we just need to keep an eye on him for now."

...

The stairs creaked as Sasuke walked up to his room. He talked to his mom and dad for a moment, explaining how he was at a friend's house and that's why he was late. It was a good excuse, mostly because they just seemed glad he was making friends.

If only they knew what was really going on, and hey, maybe they already did. Maybe this wouldn't be news to them at all and they were really in on the whole thing. That seemed more unlikely than this whole day and the days preceding it combined.

Sasuke close the door behind him and fell onto his bed. It felt great under his sore joints, he wasn't quite sure why they were sore, but they were. He closed his eyes and began to think.

_Sasuke... can you hear me now?_

Sasuke stiffened. That didn't sound like the muffled voices he'd heard before. This voice sounded dark and happy all at the same time. He didn't know how to respond.

_You can finally hear me, I know you can, it feels good to have your voice not fall on deaf ears._

_ "Who are you?" Sasuke asked._

_ Me? Well I'm you, a part of you anyway, a part you tried to forget._

_ "What do you mean?"_

_ Don't you remember? Oh, I guess not, your inner world has been a bit different lately. I missed the old views, and that nice girl you once knew, what was her name? Started with an H._

_ "Who are you talking about? And what are you talking about?"_

_ Well, that would take too long to explain, but to put it simply, I am a manifested version of your dark side, the hate filled, angry, and sad side you forgot. I don't know why you don't remember me. I used to be all you'd see. Now you live in this world, yuck, you're even kind of nice now. What a letdown. I miss the hate filled us, but I guess there are some good things to living in this world. I can talk to you much easier and I got this cool mask._

Sasuke was confused, beyond confused, as the voice continued to ramble in its dark but eccentric voice. He seemed pissed but also composed. A weird combination indeed, and worst of all, he was starting to sound like him.

_"Why are you able to talk to me now?"_

_ I've been trying to talk to you for months, but there was interference, someone was blocking me, playing with us. My memory is a bit foggy, but I still feel the same hatred we once embodied._

_ "You're still not making any sense."_

The inner voice laughed, a dark laugh, but an overly happy one. _My memory is foggy I said, but we are one, that I'm sure of. I like this new power we've acquired, it suits me quite nicely. I can't wait till we get to try it out on someone._

_ "Are you talking about my-our soul reaper powers?"_

_ No, not exactly, but you'll see it eventually._

Sasuke's head exploded with pain in that moment. He rolled off his bed and crashed to the floor, writhing with pain.

_"What's happening?"_

_ Interference, don't worry, Sasuke. This won't be the last time we speak, that, I promise you._

The voice was gone, so was the pain, and it was silent again. Who was that inside his head? It couldn't be him, he was him, and he would never sound so spiteful. That voice sounded more like it came from a horror movie than from his mind.

More questions flooded into his mind. Too many questions for him to ever answer in a lifetime, but he needed answers or his head would explode eventually.

"Sasuke," his mother called from behind his door. "Are you okay? I heard something fall."

Sasuke got to his feet. "It was nothing, mom."

"Okay, honey, dinner will be ready in an hour."

Sasuke sat down on his bed and cupped his face with his hands. He needed answers, and he needed them now.

...

A dark haired girl walked down a dark pathway towards a lone closed door. She knocked twice and walked inside. Behind a wall of purple matter stood two men, they acknowledged the girl and nodded for her to come closer.

She did, and bowed her head as she greeted them.

"How's he doing?" the taller of the men asked.

"He's doing better than expected." The girl answered.

"Good, how are you, living here and all?"

"Fine, I guess. This world is much nicer than the one we came from. It's kind of like living in a more technologically advanced version of our own." She said, "I also feel that he is generally happier here."

The shorter man smiled. "That's what we were hoping for. How much energy did you lose in the transfer?"

"A lot, it was almost killing me to keep up the barrier, and now he has somehow broken through, or almost did. I put it back up not too long ago, and I think he might be getting his power back. I don't know how much longer I can keep him the way he is."

...

Sasuke and Tatsuki showed up at Orihime's house around six and everyone else was already seated around her table. Sasuke walked in beside Tatsuki, who immediately sat down beside Orihime. Sasuke took a seat between her and Ichigo.

"It's nice that you could make it, Sasuke." Orihime smiled at him and bowed her head.

"Thanks for inviting me." Sasuke said.

_She's cute, Sasuke._

_ "Shut up." Sasuke said to the voice in his head._

He looked down as to avoid eye contact as the voice in his head laughed and faded away.

"So your Tatsuki's date?" Ichigo said and moved in closer. "I'd watch yourself around her, she'd kind of a tough one."

Tatsuki glared at Ichigo. "Shut it, Kurosaki. It's not a date, just some friends getting together for dinner."

"Seems like a triple date to me." Ichigo said as he leaned on his arm.

"Are we on a date, Ichigo?" Rukia asked.

Ichigo shook his head. "Never mind, it's not a date."

Sasuke looked down at the table full of strange food. He was more concerned with what he might be ingesting, rather than whether this was a date or not. Was all of this edible, it seemed to be since Orihime was eating it, but the others seemed as reluctant as he was.

"So, Sasuke, tell us about yourself?" Uryū asked as he pushed his plate away.

"There's not much to say." Sasuke said as he eyed the food one more time.

Uryū adjusted his glasses. "Come now, there must be something we could learn about you, like what hobbies do you have?"

Sasuke looked at Uryū for a moment and then at Tatsuki. Everyone was looking at him like they were expecting something from him. He already guessed that Kisuke told Ichigo and Rukia about his soul reaper powers but he didn't know that Uryū might know.

"I don't have a hobby." Sasuke said and finally took a bite of his food. It was surprisingly good for whatever it was.

A series of questions came Sasuke's way but he nearly avoided answering any of them, which was something he was good at. The rest of the dinner went along well with everyone sharing personal experiences and fun times.

Sasuke even smiled once or twice, nothing special, just a smirk here or there. He even told them a story about how he and his friend tried climbing a tree by running straight up it. It didn't end well for either of them but it was a nice story to share.

_No, you're not allowed to make friends, leave now, they'll only betray you._

Not the voice again, Sasuke thought. Sasuke looked over at Orihime's balcony. "Can I get some air real quick?"

Orihime nodded and Sasuke walked over to the balcony. A gust of air blew through his hair as he stepped onto the balcony, it was a nice feeling, but it didn't last.

_"Why do you keep talking to me?"_

_ I am you, in case you've forgotten, and you saw those people in there. They're watching you intently._

_ "I noticed that, but why does it matter? I have no reason not to trust them."_

_ You do have a reason, and you can feel it inside that they're up to something._

Sasuke did feel that strange feeling in his gut but he ignored it. Like he said, he had no reason not to trust them. They seemed like okay people, and like they'd be good friends.

"Hey, Sasuke, can we talk for a moment?"

Sasuke just noticed someone was out on the balcony with him. It was Rukia, with her black hair, and blue eyes looking up at him. She was kind of cute in her own way.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you coming. What'd you want to talk about?" Sasuke leaned against the edge of the balcony.

"We all know about your soul reaper powers." Rukia said.

Sasuke had assumed as much already. "Even Tatsuki?"

Rukia looked through the glass door at said girl. "No, she doesn't know."

"So what is it you wanted to talk about?" Sasuke asked.

Rukia leaned against the railing as well. "I know you're going to going to the soul society for training in a month. I wanted to help you before you left."

"Why would you want to do that?" Sasuke asked.

"Does it matter why? Why can't you just accept help?" Rukia's face became red.

"Sorry, I'm just not used to people wanting to help me, I guess."

Orihime nudged Tatsuki. "They seem to be hitting it off don't you think?" Orihime said as she and the others watched them from the inside.

"I don't think so." Ichigo said.

Uryū laughed. "You sound jealous, Ichigo. Why's that?"

Ichigo looked away. "Why should I care if they hit it off or not?"

...

After everyone had eaten and it started to get late everyone said their goodbyes and left Orihime's house. Ichigo walked with Rukia home and Sasuke walked with Tatsuki, since they were neighbors and all.

The night air had become cool and refreshing, much better than it was before. Sasuke and Tatsuki walked in silence. They both seemed to enjoy it better that way. There wasn't really much for them to talk about anyway.

Sasuke could bring up the fact that he was a soul reaper to her, but that might be too big of a conversation for him. Plus, she didn't seem to know anything about all of what was going on with her other friends.

"It's a nice night isn't it?" Tatsuki finally said.

"It is," Sasuke agreed.

It fell silent again. That was all they had in them it seemed. Sasuke just wasn't in the mood for talking, especially with that thing in his head interrupting whenever he did get into a conversation. The thing, whatever it was, was more annoying than anything else. It was like a bad influence inside his head that wanted him to make as many bad decisions as possible.

"I had fun tonight." Tatsuki said as they came up to their houses.

"Me too," Sasuke said.

"We should... do it again sometime."

Sasuke smiled. "Definitely, I wouldn't mind that."

Sasuke walked into his house before she could finish. She sat on her doorstep for a moment.

"Maybe just the two of us next time," She said and walked into her own house.


	6. Chapter 6

Ch. 6 – Finding a place in the world

"Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone."

- Mahatma Gandhi

...

An interesting thing happens when a voice keeps talking to you all night. What might that be you ask? You don't get to go to sleep and end up too tired for school. Sasuke felt like he'd rather have the headaches than have this dark voice in his mind to poke and prod him all the time.

He still had no idea what was talking to him or why. An explanation was given but not a very good one.

Sasuke rose slowly from his bed and reached for his drawer. He grabbed his clothes and headed for the bathroom. He dressed as quick as he normally would and left. He gave his parents each a hug, not something he would normally do, but under the circumstances.

Isami was already there with him as they left. The walk was less talkative than usual, which surprised him since his sister was usually a chatter box. She wore a worried expression and that confused him. What did she have to worry about?

A few minutes later they were on the main street that led to their school. He must look like hell today, but that didn't seem to stop the girls from staring after him as he walked through the front corridor.

A group of girls walked by, they giggled, stared at him for a moment as they talked, and started to giggle again as they walked away. It started to burn at his patience. If his patience were a rope, it would be on its last thread right now.

Sasuke walked into his classroom and took his seat in the back of room, next to Tatsuki and Ichigo. As soon as he sat down Tatsuki looked his way.

"Didn't get much sleep last night, did you?" she asked.

Sasuke turned his head to her as he rubbed at his eyes. "That obvious?"

Tatsuki smiled. "You look like you'd rather be dead than be here."

"You wouldn't be wrong."

The teacher entered the room and so started the boring day. Sasuke found it confusing as to why he had to go to school if he was just going to be leaving for the soul society in one month's time anyway. This knowledge literally wouldn't help him in any way, but he still tried to pay attention during the lecture.

After class was over Sasuke couldn't be happier to get out of there. He picked up his stuff and headed for the door. Not one second after Sasuke left the classroom, he bumped into a girl, nearly knocking her over. He caught her with his freed hand.

"I'm sorry," he said.

She smiled up at him and didn't seem to mind being almost trampled. "That's okay, I mean, I should've been watching where I was going."

Sasuke smiled at her for a moment as he stared at her blue hair and matching blue eyes. He turned to walk away but stopped at the tug of his shoulder.

"Wait, um, can I-I ask you something?" the girl wiped at her reddening face. It didn't help.

"Yes?" Sasuke already knew what she was going to ask.

"Would you like to g-get ice cream with me tomorrow?" she asked.

Sasuke could easily say no to her, move on with his day, and spend time with his family. But something in her eyes made him reconsider. She was a cute girl, at least a head shorter than him, and he'd seen her around since she was in his class.

Sasuke paused for a moment. "Sure."

A big smile came to her face, which she immediately tried to hide. "Okay, let's go after school. There's this nice ice cream parlor down the road from here, oh we're going to have so much fun."

The girl turned and walked off with her friends, clearly talking about her date tomorrow. Sasuke didn't even get the girl's name and he was already going on a date with her. That's fantastic.

Sasuke left the school building and waited for his sister in front of the building. What does she do before they get ready to leave? "She doesn't even take this long to get dressed."

"Who doesn't?"

Sasuke turned at Orihime's sweet voice. She and Tatsuki walked up to him and greeted him.

"I'm just waiting for my sister. She's so slow to get out of class. I think she may like it here." Sasuke said.

"Well, isn't that a good thing?" Tatsuki asked.

"Normally it would be, but I don't know how long we're going to be here. I don't want her to have to leave all her friends again." Sasuke looked away as he said that.

Tatsuki and Orihime awed in unison. "So under that tough exterior there is a heart of gold." Tatsuki said and laughed with Orihime.

Sasuke's face became red, something that's never happened to him before. He wiped at his cheeks and realized he probably looked just like the girl he'd said yes to earlier. "Forget I said anything."

"You know, you're kind of like Ichigo in that way." Orihime said, "You both seem serious and intimidating on the outside but both care the world for your sisters."

Tatsuki laughed. "I think you're looking too much into this. Hey, Sasuke, would you like to walk with us home, I mean after your sister gets out of class?"

Sasuke nodded and now all three of them waited for his sister to show. He leaned against the outside of the fence in front of the school while Orihime and Tatsuki talked and laughed.

The clouds moved across the sky like slow row boats floating along a river of blue. Sasuke found his gaze floating upward toward those clouds as his mind felt clear for once. The voice wasn't speaking to him and his head didn't have a single clouded thought.

It was as clear as the sky on non-cloudy day, unlike the sky he was looking at now, ironically.

Soft footsteps pulled Sasuke from his thoughts. Isami walked out of the school courtyard and smiled at him as she stood by him.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Isami asked while she pushed her black hair over her shoulder.

"We've been ready." Sasuke said.

"Then let's go home." Isami said with a smile that usually irritated Sasuke but somehow he found it comforting today.

...

A pure white light flooded the park in the shape of an eye opening. The eye of light stayed open as four figures walked through it and into the park of Karakura town. It closed and disappeared when they were all on the other side.

The four figures wore armor that was not common in this time period, even with the soul reapers, and others.

The tallest figure in the center stretched and cracked his neck and joints. "Man, this is a pretty far way to go for some fun and games."

"Ivan, we're not here for games. We have a mission." The slightly shorter man with long blonde hair said. He wore a long black cape along with his metal armor.

"Oh come on, Mason, you know this town looks a little too peaceful." Ivan said with a mad glee written all over his face. His armor wasn't anything special but you could tell he loved fighting by how damaged the armor was.

"Come now you two. Save your energy for the mission." A soft voice came from a girl standing off to the side of them. She had long purple hair and wore a similar looking armor to them but hers had a blue sash tied around her waist and a white one that tied her long hair back.

The last guy stayed silent as he examined the area where they'd landed. "We seem to be in a park."

"Very astute of you, Lance." The girl said.

"Don't give me your snark, Olivia." Lance said, "Anyways, what's the plan?"

Mason looked to the sky as a grin broke out on his face. "We only have to find him, so no killing, got it?"

Everyone nodded. "Good, then let's go, Olivia you're with me." Mason said, and looked to Lance. "Keep an eye on Ivan – we don't want a repeat of last time."

...

Ichigo, Rukia, and Uryū ran towards the park. Ichigo and Rukia were already in their soul reaper forms. Uryū had his bow already aimed at the four figures standing in the center of the park. His finger already had a blue arrow nocked and ready to fire.

Ichigo pulled out Zangetsu along with Rukia and her zanpakuto.

"Looks like we've been discovered already," Lance said. "And I was expecting a sneak attack, how troublesome this is."

"Who are you and what do you want?" Ichigo asked as he readied his fighting stance.

"Ooh, a tough guy, can I play with him, Mason?" Ivan asked.

The blonde haired man placed his hand in front of his friend to stop him from attacking regardless of what he said. "No, we're not here for them. They're just in the way."

Ichigo studied the four before them. They weren't hollows, bounts, or anything else he'd seen so far. They looked like they came from a whole other world, or at least time period. The soul energy they were emitting was massive, even compared to some of the people he's fought.

The girl stepped forward and raised her hand. "Shall I deal with them?"

"Just make it quick, Olivia." The blonde man – Ichigo guessed he was Mason – said.

The girl stepped forward and raised her hand. Ichigo and Rukia readied, while Uryū stepped closer and narrowed his sights on the purple haired girl, Olivia.

Olivia's hand began to glow with a greenish white energy that swirled around her fingers. She walked forward and vanished before any of them could see what happened. Ichigo was flying through the air to avoid a giant explosion. Rukia wasn't as lucky as she was thrown through the air, Ichigo ran and caught her but she took a good amount of damage.

She had burns on her face and arms, as well as a ripped kimono. Ichigo had to jump quickly to avoid another explosion only a few feet away from him. Was she invisible, he wondered?

"Uryū, can you see her, is she invisible?" Ichigo shouted over the explosion.

"I can't tell, just keep avoiding her bombs." Uryū said as Olivia reappeared in front of them. He released his arrow but it flew through the air without hitting a thing, they were gone.

"Damn, now we're going have to look harder to find them." Ichigo said and looked down at Rukia. "We should get to Orihime first."

...

Sasuke and Isami walked down the stairs and toward the kitchen where they were eating as a family. Given the recent events, Sasuke didn't mind it really. He took his seat on the side of the table opposite of Isami and stared down at the food their mom prepared for them.

"Looks delicious, mom." Isami said and picked up her chop sticks to eat.

"Thanks, honey, I made it especially for you and your brother." She smiled and looked to her son, "What do you think of the food, Sasuke?"

"It looks good," Sasuke said. He really wasn't good at talking, definitely needed to work on that.

Isami put down her chopsticks and looked to Sasuke and said, "So I heard you have a date tomorrow?"

Sasuke took a drink of his tea. "Who told you that?"

"Cynthia, Kira's little sister told me." Isami said.

"Who's Kira?" Sasuke asked.

"Wait what? That's the girl you're going on a date with tomorrow? Did you not know her name?"

"She's in my class but we've never talked before today." Sasuke said.

Sasuke's mom laughed. "So what kind of girl is this Kira?"

"She's got short blue hair and blue eyes, but we've never talked until today. She seems a bit shy." Sasuke said.

"Her little sister is my best friend." Isami said, "So you have to be nice to her, got it? No scowling aloud."

Sasuke scowled at her and went back to his food. "It's not even a big deal; we're just getting ice cream."

...

Sasuke met up with Kira in front of the school. She smiled when she saw him walking towards her, and he tried his best just not to scowl. Isami walked up behind him.

"The one time you don't take forever to get out of class." Sasuke said.

"I had things to do before, now I don't, it's all very simple." Isami gave him a smile as they exited the school.

Isami waved and started walking home. Sasuke waited until she was out of hearing range and turned to Tatsuki who was just walking out of school. "Hey, can you make sure my sister gets home safe?"

Tatsuki titled her head. "Sure, but why? Don't you usually walk her home?"

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair. "I'm a little busy today."

Tatsuki looked behind him at Kira standing there and pretending not to notice them talking. "Okay, I understand."

"And hey, Tatsuki," Sasuke said grabbing her arm. "Don't tell her that I sent you."

She smiled and ran to catch up to Isami. Sasuke let out a sigh and turned back to Kira. "You ready to go?"

The girl smiled and followed, though she should probably be leading, since he's only ever walked by the ice cream and never gone in. They walked mostly in silence, but she didn't seem to mind. She walked closely by his side, as it turns out, he didn't mind either.

The ice cream parlor was a small establishment next to an arrangement of small stores. The store on the right was a sandwich shop and the one on the opposite side was a general store. They all together took up a block of the many stores in downtown Karakura town.

Sasuke opened the door and held it open for Kira as she walked up to the counter and stared at the selection of ice creams listed on the board. He stood next to her, also looking up at their big selections. He really wasn't a sweets kind of guy but Kira seemed to be having trouble picking just one.

"Hmm," Kira put her hand to her chin. "I don't know which one to get?"

"Get as many as you want, I'm paying." Sasuke said and rubbed the back of his neck.

Kira turned to him and smiled. "Really, you don't have to do that you know. I have money and can pay for my own cone."

"Don't worry about it, I said I can pay." Sasuke said.

She smiled again and turned to the ice cream vendor. She pointed at different flavors, one after another, and didn't stop until the vendor told her the one cone couldn't hold that much.

Sasuke wondered how a girl that tiny could stay that tiny if she ate sweets like this all the time. It was some type of morphing ability, which seemed reasonable, especially with the weirdness of this town.

It wouldn't surprise to see a shape shifter among the hordes of hollows that flooded in and out of Karakura town. The soul reapers took care of them pretty well but he hasn't had the chance to fight yet, which should be a good thing, but what good were his powers if he couldn't use them?

After ordering Kira's cone and a simple vanilla cone for himself they sat down close to the back of the parlor. The lobby had a lot of tables, but not many people filling the empty chairs. This place should be filled, Sasuke thought.

In the very back only two tables from them sat two men wearing hats and long coats. They caught his interest, he didn't know why, but something felt off about them. Kira ate her ice cream and talked but he was too focused on the two men to notice.

"So do you think so?" Kira asked.

Sasuke turned his attention back on her. "Yeah, I guess."

The men got up and walked towards the door. Sasuke followed them with his gaze, trying not to make it obvious. A small red sphere fell from the man's left hand. Sasuke froze up as the object fell. Quickly he got to his feet, and wrapped his arms around Kira.

The object hit the floor and a gust of flames blew out the shop windows and sent Sasuke and Kira flying out onto the pavement. Sasuke turned from her and stared at the burning building. The few buildings next to the ice cream parlor caught fire as well.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked Kira.

"I-I'm fine, what happened?"

"I don't know." Sirens could be heard off in the distance, fire trucks, and ambulances.

Sasuke got to his feet and looked around for the two men he saw a few seconds ago. Nothing, they completely vanished.

Police sirens echoed throughout the small area as the cars filled up the slots left to them by the large crowd that had gathered there. A police officer walked Sasuke and Kira over to an ambulance and handed them off to a paramedic.

"Were you in that explosion, son?" The paramedic asked.

"Yeah, but I'm fine. You need to check her first." Sasuke said as he pointed the paramedic to Kira.

The fire trucks showed and were already evacuating people from the apartment complex that had caught fire. A fireman carried out a woman, but she was barely conscious as she was removed from the building.

He put her on a stretcher but she started to freak out. Twisting and moving all about uncontrollably. She finally opened her eyes and looked up at the fireman.

"My daughter, where's my daughter?" she nearly screamed in his face.

"Sorry, Ma'am, we didn't see anyone else in the building but you."

The woman grabbed for the fireman's shirt. "I need to save my daughter. She's still inside the apartment number eighteen!"

Sasuke heard enough. He ran for the burning building and kicked open the door before anyone could try and stop him. The walls were all on fire but he didn't stop to admire the view, not like he could with all the smoke blowing in his face.

He found the number and kicked open the door. It was hard to hear anything over the surrounding sound of wood burning and the building collapsing. Softly, that was all he could hear, a soft voice crying somewhere behind one these walls.

Sasuke rushed through the door to his immediate left and saw the girl curled up in a ball on the ground. She was crying and hadn't noticed him yet. He ran over to her and tried to pick her up.

"Come on," Sasuke hoisted her up and ran for the door.

He pushed passed falling debris and burning archways. Down the stairs he ran with a speed he didn't know he was capable of. He ran and jumped through the pillar of flames that had engulfed the doorway.

Sasuke was more than happy to see the light of day as he ran from the building. He carried the girl close to his chest, she looked to about twelve but she still cried heavy on his shirt.

Sasuke took the little girl and handed her to the woman who embraced her instantly.

"My, my baby, I'm so happy you're okay. How can I ever thank you?" The women cried into her daughter's hair.

Sasuke just smiled at her, his heart was racing too fast for him to respond. A fireman clapped him on the shoulder.

"You're a hero, son. Stupid, but a hero." He said.

Sasuke started to say something but he saw the two men out of the corner of his eye. They walked towards an alley. There was no way they'd get away with this. Sasuke reached into his pocket and withdrew a candy dispenser.

"Hey, where are you hiding?" Sasuke asked as he reached the alley. No answer, not even a scuttle of an alley rat.

"Hey, we got your attention didn't we?" Sasuke turned to the unfamiliar voice of one of the men he saw earlier.

"Who in the hell are you?" Sasuke asked.

The taller man smiled. "That's not important right now. We're just glad we finally found you."


	7. Chapter 7

Ch. 7 –

"Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone."

- Mahatma Gandhi

...

Sasuke's breaths were heavy, thick, and there was a black smudge of soot across his cheek from running through the fire. He recomposed himself as he stared down the two hooded figures standing before him. One was big, with a goofy grin on his face. The other, who wore a scowl much like his own, looked to be the smarter of the two. It was a bit biased, but it was the truth.

"So who are you?" Sasuke asked. His eyes stayed fixated on them.

"Doesn't matter," the shorter of the two said, he had long white hair and wore strange looking armor reminiscent of medieval garb.

"Can I play with him, Lance?" The brute of a man said. He had slicked back brown hair and wore a bandana of a similar color.

Sasuke focused his eyes on the large one, readying his grip on his zanpakuto. He'd only had one training lesson with Urahara but to be fair he was itching for a fight. If they wanted a fight then he'd give them one, and he wouldn't lose to these two.

The shorter one, Lance Sasuke guessed, stepped forward and put his hands behind his back. Sasuke didn't ease his tense muscles.

"We've come all this way for you, Sasuke." Lance said, and pulled two long knives from where his hands had been resting.

The taller one frowned. "I thought I was going to fight him, Lance."

"Shut up, you ape. This is personal."

Sasuke raised an eye brow at that statement. "Do I know you two?"

"No, not yet anyway, but you will." Lance said and ran towards Sasuke.

Sasuke had his sword out just as Lance's knives connected with it and sent sparks flying up at him. Sasuke looked into the still scowling face of Lance and pushed him back before he dashed in for another attack. Sasuke dodged and blocked with an ease he hadn't expected, not that it wasn't helpful, just not what he thought his first fight would be like.

Lance threw a knife at Sasuke's face but it was easily dodged as Sasuke bent backwards and back flipped away.

"You're good – I didn't expect that." Lance said.

Sasuke smirked. "What a coincidence, me neither."

Lance smiled and held his empty hand up to Sasuke. Sasuke titled his head but heard the whirling sound approaching from behind him. He jumped into the air, narrowly avoiding the knife that flew into the spot where his head had once been and landed back in Lance's hand.

"Neat trick," Sasuke said.

"You like that? Well how about this." Lance jumped back into battle swinging left and right but was still easily blocked by Sasuke.

Sasuke caught Lance's swing with his free hand and flipped him through the air and into the wall of the building next to them. Sasuke smirked as he readied himself for another barrage of attacks.

...

The buildings and people passed by Tatsuki like they had every day since she's taken this route home. The only difference was Sasuke's kid sister tagging along beside her. She had a happier demeanor than she was used to, and was far more talkative than Sasuke was.

"So can I ask you a question?" Isami spoke and broke the comfortable silence they'd fallen in to.

"Yeah, sure, what's up?"

"What do you think of my brother?" Isami asked.

The question caught her off guard. "What do you mean? He's cool, I mean, he's a really nice guy."

"Okay, I see." Isami said.

The question seemed a little out of place. It would have been passed off as nothing more than a sister being a little nosey if not for Isami's stern and serious look. It seemed like she and her brother really were related with that look.

"Why do you ask?" Tatsuki looked at girl's demeanor shift back to her happy and innocent one but the look from before hadn't been an accident.

"I was just curious about something," Isami said. "Do you know if Sasuke likes any of the girls in your class?"

Tatsuki blinked for a second, turned and put a hand on her chin. "Well, he's been sort of chummy with Rukia, but that's about it."

"Who's Rukia?" Isami asked.

"She's the new girl, but I don't think there's anything there between the two. Her and Ichigo sort of have this thing going on, I think. You know it's hard to tell what Ichigo is feeling sometimes."

"I know that feeling. My brother is harder to read than hieroglyphics sometimes. He has this hard, stern, and serious look to him most days, and sometimes he's completely different." Isami said, "He's been kind of different ever since the move though, but that's to be expected, a lot changed."

Tatsuki nodded to that. A change in scenery could change anyone, even the seemingly phase proof Sasuke. She remembered the talk they'd had outside of his house about where he used to live. He seemed a little confused at the time though.

"He told me a little about where you guys moved from and some of the friends he used to know." Tatsuki said, "He mentioned a Naruto I believe and a girl named Hinata."

"Wait, who did he mention-"

Isami stopped and looked up from where she and Tatsuki stood. Tatsuki followed her line of sight and saw two figures jump from the roof of a building to their right. They landed and stood with their backs to the harsh sun light.

Tatsuki's eyes adjusted and she saw what looked like a blonde man in armor with a girl to his right in similar armor. Was a convention happening somewhere?

Tatsuki looked to Isami who was just glaring at the two. "Do you know these two, Isami?"

Isami didn't answer for a moment but kept looking at the strangers.

Before Tatsuki could speak, the man with the blonde hair said, "Hello, princess, it's been a long time."

...

Sasuke blocked the knives again but was kicked in the chest and sent back into the wall. He ducked as a blade cut a chunk out of the wall behind them. Sasuke kicked him back and brought his zanpakuto down and disarmed the man.

The knives fell behind where Sasuke stood. He grinned and stood where Lance couldn't get to his weapons. A loud thud changed Sasuke's mind as he dove to avoid a giant hammer slamming into the ground where he once stood. The tall man stood over him with a sick glimmer in his eyes.

"Ivan," Lance said. "What'd I say? This is my fight still."

"Sorry, Lance, but you know how I love a good fight." Ivan said.

Sasuke rubbed the sweat from his brow and stood with both hands on his zanpakuto. "Are you two going to get serious or do I have to slap you around a little bit more?"

Ivan jumped towards Sasuke with a ferocious swing, giving Sasuke just enough time to dodge before he had to block Lance's knives. Sasuke could feel his inner strength pouring out of him now. He stood face to face with Lance, who still held strong against Sasuke's zanpakuto.

A swing of Ivan's hammer and Sasuke jumped above them both. He reached out his hand and mimicked the ability he'd used before and shot a short burst of lightning from his palm. The lightning missed both of them but caused them to separate, which gave him enough time to get Ivan and punch him in the face. He fell on his back with a heavy thud and Sasuke jumped back into his fight with Lance.

Sasuke dodged Lance's, seemingly slow, strikes and returned his own at speeds that he knew Lance couldn't dodge effectively. Sasuke jumped and pushed off of Lance's chest, sending him flying onto the pavement. Sasuke landed on the building above them and looked down at his hands.

"This feels right," Sasuke said.

"I'm happy for you, really I am, but we're still going to kill you." Lance said, "I promise you that."

Sasuke smirked. He'd never imagined he'd be this good at fighting or that he would enjoy it this much. He danced around them like they were new to this.

Ivan got up and started to charge Sasuke but was stopped by Lance. "What do you want now?"

"We can't fight him now." Lance said, "Our job was just to investigate, not to kill. Sasuke, we'll be seeing you very soon."

"I thought you were going to kill me?"

Lance growled low in his throat.

Sasuke jumped at them but they were gone before he touched the ground. This was getting strange, Sasuke thought. He went back to his body and proceeded over to where the fire was being taken care of by the firemen. The fires danced across the sky and sent smoke swirling upwards in tufts of black clouds.

Sasuke walked through the crowd of people gathered around the burning building and saw the ambulance where he'd left Kira. He walked over to find her being checked still for injury.

"Sasuke, where'd you go? I-I was worried." Kira said.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder. "I needed to check something. Are you okay?"

Kira smiled. "You already asked, and according to the paramedics I'm fine, except for a small pain in my side from when we landed. But how are you?"

"I'm alright, nothing major, save for a few cuts." Sasuke said, "I need to get home to see my sister, will you be okay here?"

Kira nodded. "Yeah, what a first date, huh?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said as he raced away from her and ran home.

...

Tatsuki stared at Isami. She was in shock, like she couldn't move from their sight, and she didn't know if she should be scared or ready for a fight. She wished Isami would say something or do something. Man, Sasuke was never going to trust her again.

"Do you know these two, Isami?" Tatsuki asked.

Isami's arms shook before she recomposed herself. "I've never seen these two in my life."

The blonde haired man laughed and looked around. "Don't play games with me, princess. Where's Sasuke?"

"Sasuke - well he's not here, so just go away." Isami almost yelled at them.

Sasuke, Tatsuki wondered, what could they want with him?

"Look, we're not here to hurt you, just tell us where Sasuke is and you can go. It doesn't matter to me what you're doing here." The blonde man said.

The wind blew by them and seemed to only increase the tension that flowed from them to Isami and Tatsuki. The two didn't seem like they'd leave until Sasuke showed up or they knew where to find him.

Tatsuki didn't want to think about why they were looking for him but the thoughts still crept into her mind. Sasuke is a nice enough guy most times but she didn't understand why they'd need to find him this badly. Thinking back, she'd met similar people with Ichigo.

"Sasuke isn't here, okay? I don't know where he is." Isami said, it was clearly a lie but she was trying to protect her brother, so it was a noble cause.

The blonde's demeanor dropped and he prepared to walk toward them but stopped when two more people appeared next to them. They were also dressed in medieval garb, must be a convention in town.

"What do you two want? Did you find him?"

"Yes, but we were outmatched, he's still too strong."

"That's fine, we'll come for him later." The blonde man turned to Isami and said, "We'll be seeing you later too."

The four vanished as if they'd never been there to begin with. Tatsuki looked to Isami for something but her face was blank, as blank as Sasuke's at times. They really were related.

"Isami-"

"Can we just not tell Sasuke about this?" Isami cut of Tatsuki before she could say anything.

"But why would you want to keep this from him?"

"I don't want him to worry and he has enough to deal with right now." Isami said.

Tatsuki opened her mouth to speak but thought better of what she was going to say.

Isami looked to Tatsuki with a pleading look. "Will you promise me you won't tell him?"

Tatsuki tightened her fist. The thought of lying to Sasuke wasn't what caused her distress but the fact that this may come back to bite them both.

"Please, Tatsuki, promise me?"

"Fine, but if this comes back to us in a bad way, I'm not taking the wrap for it." Tatsuki said as she rubbed her palms together.

"Thank you, Tatsuki."

...

Ichigo sat in the corner of the small room at Urahara's shop, legs crossed, and swept another worrying glance at Rukia breathing heavily on the place mat in front of him. He eagerly awaited Orihime's arrival, and hopefully a way to ease the pain caused by the strangers in the park.

His fist clenched. He should have done something, hollowfied, or something to keep any of his friends from danger. But he didn't do anything other than rush head first into a fight he definitely wasn't ready for. Ichigo felt his scowl deepen with the feeling that burned inside of him.

He barely heard the wood door slide open. Ichigo turned to see Orihime enter and immediately go to Rukia's slumbering form.

"I heard what happened from Uryū. How bad is she hurt?" Orihime asked as she placed her hands over Rukia.

Ichigo's eyes floated from Orihime, to Rukia, and back. "They caught us off guard. The girl of the group was too fast for us to follow and they hit Rukia with some type of energy blast. It was unlike anything I've ever seen."

Orihime nodded and focused back on Rukia. Ichigo watched as Orihime's light removed the wounds from Rukia's body. Even though he'd seen her abilities many times, it always amazed him to watch them in action.

"I don't understand," Orihime said as she focused again on the girl in front of her.

"What's wrong?" Ichigo asked.

Orihime shook her head. "I've healed most of her cuts but these burns won't heal all the way."

Ichigo shot to his feet and got closer to see what his friend saw. Sure enough many of the burns were not healing as they should. They seemed immune to her healing abilities all together. What was in that explosion?

"Is there anything else you can do?"

"I'm sorry," Orihime said. "We just have to wait and see if the medicine Urahara applied earlier heals them."

Ichigo lowered his head, feeling worse for the fight now. He should have tried harder, why hadn't he? He was supposed to protect Karakura town and his friends, but somehow he'd failed both, like he'd failed his mom.

That thought struck him hard. It was always back there, in his mind, and it never failed to tear at his confidence. He looked over to his zanpakuto in its sheath against the wall, rather in the bandage he wrapped it in, and wondered how he could make this better.

"I heard my name," Urahara walked into the room, his hat atop his head, and his zanpakuto in hand. "Thanks for your time, Orihime, but if you don't mind I need to talk to Ichigo alone."

Orihime bowed her head and exited the room. Ichigo watched her go and met Urahara's eyes. "What's up?"

Urahara leaned sat down in a similar fashion to Ichigo but leaned back against the wall behind him. "I heard from a little black cat that two of the men you were fighting caused a huge explosion in down town Karakura and also set fire to the apartment building next door."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "What, was anyone hurt?"

"No, everyone's fine. Sasuke just happened to be there at the time of the explosion, actually he was in it."

"Wait, is he okay?" Ichigo asked.

"He's fine as well, they just ruined his date, but I was also informed that he went after the two who set off the explosion."

"I'm guessing he's fine."

"Correct, he actually gave them a run for their money. I was surprised too, but the kid's a natural at fighting." Urahara said.

Ichigo let out a breath. There seemed to be something more here, but he couldn't place his finger on it. Uryū would have figured it out by now, but he couldn't exactly think straight at the moment.

If Sasuke fought them and won he must've been that spiritual pressure that he felt earlier. It was stronger than anything he's ever felt before. The pressure felt like it was energy that embodied Sasuke's personality.

"So what's our next move?"

...

Sasuke rushed down the sidewalk and streets that he and Isami always took to get home. She should be around here somewhere, he thought.

His fight hadn't taken all that long to complete and with the date being cut short she couldn't have made it home already. That was his only choice though, heading home, and making sure that's where she was.

It's not like she wasn't safe with Tatsuki. Tatsuki could handle herself in a fight, more than likely - maybe not a fight like he'd been in, but a normal one yes. And Isami herself was capable, that was for sure.

But, for some reason, those two had made him feel really on edge. It wasn't just their ability or the way they'd said they were her for. They had an evil air to them. They didn't just make him feel uneasy, but they sounded as if they'd follow through on their promise to kill him.

Sasuke didn't fear them, far from it, but he couldn't help but think that they wouldn't be above taking someone hostage at his expense.

Sasuke walked down a street and stopped in place. Something was there, something strong, and above him. He looked up to the buildings but saw nothing but sky and empty rooftops.

The presence got stronger as he stood there.

"Hey, you?"

Sasuke turned in the direction the voice had come from and saw a woman dressed in black standing across the street from him with her crossed over her petite body. She had shoulder length black hair and similar colored eyes. She stood with a scowl on her pretty, but definitely irritated, face.

"Do I know you?" Sasuke asked as he reached for his candy dispenser.

"No, but I think you're the one I've been looking for." The woman said.

"Sorry but I've had enough dates for one day." Sasuke placed both hands in his pockets.

The irritated look on her face worsened. "Do you realize who you're talking to?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Sorry but you kind of skipped the introductions."

The woman straightened up and stared him down with her dark gaze. "I am captain Suì-Fēng of the Gotei thirteen and I'm here to retrieve you."


	8. Chapter 8

Ch. 8 – In the eyes of the beholder

"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."

Edgar Allan Poe

...

A hot wind blew through two sets of black hair. The air was rigged with tension. He could feel her gaze piercing into his chest. It was more than he was used to, and that was saying a lot considering who his dad was.

Sasuke stared back into her eyes and thought about the words she'd just said. He couldn't go to the soul society, not yet, not with those people running around and his family being danger because of him. He couldn't live with himself if he let anything happen to them.

"Who sent you?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep his cool.

The black haired soul reaper – Sui-Feng was what she said her name was – placed her hand on her zanpakuto. Sasuke copied her stance and placed a hand on his hilt.

"If you don't want to come back with me peacefully then I guess," Sui-Feng's zanpakuto disappeared and on her hand appeared a sharp little blade that extended from her middle finger. "We can do this the hard way."

Sasuke watched her new battle ready stance with this new weapon. He didn't know what she did but maybe it was something captains could do. Manifest their zanpakutos in different ways.

"You never answered my question," Sasuke said.

Sui-Feng's face curled into a snarl. "I don't need to tell you anything. You're under arrest and any resistance may result in your demise."

Sasuke tapped his hilt with his thumb. "Sorry, but I can't leave just yet."

"So we are going to have to do this the hard way. Good, that's my favorite way."

Sui-Feng raised her hand and charged at Sasuke. Sasuke watched but as her foot hit the ground she suddenly appeared a few feet in front of him. He raised his blade to meet hers and felt himself getting pushed back by that impact. It shocked him, but not enough to distract him from what was happening in front of him.

Sasuke jumped back away from her and prepared for another attack. The soul society sure did have some good fighters, and he'd only stopped her one attack. If she kept going at him like this then he'd surely be outmatched without the speed necessary to fight back.

He dodged another of her lungs and caught her blade as she plunged it towards his chest. His zanpakuto was flat against his chest now. Barely even a defense really, just blind luck.

Sasuke forced her back and swung at her fleeting form. She's really good, but he wasn't going to give up that easily.

"You're good, who was your master?" Sui-Feng asked.

Sasuke readied his fighting stance, not one for idle chatter especially during a fight.

"The quiet type, huh? Well I'm not the leader of the stealth force for nothing." Sui-Feng lunged at him but he was out of the way before she even touched the ground.

Sasuke raised his blade in a stance that felt natural to him and decided it was time to go on the offensive. He caught her blade with his own, turned, and kicked her hard in the stomach. She fell backwards and growled viciously at him. Clearly Sasuke struck a nerve with that move, and not because of the kick.

They stayed in that stance for a while. He could feel her gaze, not just looking through him, but somehow seeing his thoughts. It was disturbing but he couldn't lose his composure now. He was already getting tired from the small bout though, due to his previous encounters.

"You, little brat," Sui-Feng said and spat on the cement below her, "I was going to go easy on you but it seems like that's not going to be possible."

Sasuke stood, alert, and ready for whatever she was going to throw at him next. A surge of pressure exerted from the women standing in front of him. He felt his breathing falter for moment as she seemingly charged up.

Sui-Feng charged one last time. She was so fast that Sasuke barely caught her movements in his vision. He readied his defensive stance but knew a little too late that he wasn't going to be able to block this attack.

He placed his hand in front to hopefully catch her arm before impact. The second before she would make contact someone appeared between the two. Sui-Feng stopped and stared open mouth at the newcomer.

She had long black hair and purple eyes. That was all Sasuke could see of her, but she didn't look like she was there to harm him.

"Lady Yoruichi," Sui-Feng said as her hand lowered.

"How're you holding up, Sasuke?" The newcomer asked.

"Hn, how do you know my name?" Sasuke asked. He never lowered his blade.

The women, Yoruichi is what Sui-Feng called her, gave Sasuke a tight smirk. "Kisuke sent me. He figured something like this would happen."

"Kisuke knew a crazy soul reaper women would attack me today?" Sasuke said and lowered his zanpakuto at last, "So you're a friend of Urahara's, then?"

"Mostly, he didn't know who they would send for you," Yoruichi said. "But he did know they would come."

"Lady Yoruichi, who is this boy and how do you and Urahara know him?" Sui-Feng asked as she looked over at Sasuke with venom in her eyes.

"He's under Kisuke's protection, and not the person you're looking for. That massive amount of spiritual pressure you felt earlier belonged to the group that is after Sasuke. We don't know what they want with him but we know it can't be good."

Sui-Feng seemed to drop any animosity she felt towards Sasuke at that moment. He could feel the tension that used to dripping from the air start to melt away. Her glare also visibly lightened, it was still there, just not as strong or demeaning as it had been the moment before.

Sasuke sheathed his blade; clearly they were done fighting for now. He felt a weight lift from his chest. His pride wouldn't let him admit it, but she was way stronger than he was. She'd have killed him if Kisuke's friend hadn't stepped in. for that he was grateful, but he still didn't know if he could trust her, he didn't even know if he could trust Kisuke.

The man had thrown him in a giant hole. And that's not what trust is built upon, not how he was used to it anyway. Though how many people did he trust?

"The group was headed toward downtown Kakura town. Sui-Feng, if we go now we may catch them." Kisuke's friend said to Sui-Feng. The other girl looked to Sasuke for a moment before they both disappeared from sight.

Sasuke rubbed the back of his neck as he climbed back into his body. Today was a little much, Sasuke thought.

...

Darkness that was all Rukia could see, or was that nothing then? Did her sight go and if so, when did it happen. She didn't remember sustaining any eye injuries. Actually, she didn't even know where she was or how she got there.

After a few moments she realized there was a wet rag over her eyes preventing her from seeing, but why couldn't she feel the fabric of it, or the wetness? She removed the wet rag and was thrown in a dizzying loop as soon as her eyes tried to adjust to dark room.

She blinked until she felt her vision clear. The room wasn't immediately known to her but the boy sleeping against the wall was. How could anyone miss that orange hair?

"Ichigo," Rukia found her voice was low and raspy like she'd been unable to use it for days.

He didn't move.

"Ichigo," she said again and this time he stirred lightly.

Rukia guessed that was all she would get from the sleeping boy. She tried to sit up but found that she was unable to do so. After a few moments of struggle she finally got halfway into a sit up before falling back down flat on her back.

She made a loud thud and immediately heard the movement of Ichigo.

"Rukia, don't move." Ichigo said and was at her side in a moment.

"Ichigo, where am I?"

"You're in Urahara's shop. You got hurt while we were out fighting."

Rukia felt her head start to throb. The memories came flooding back. "Oh, I remember now. Those strange people in the park attacked us."

Ichigo frowned as he cleaned a rag and placed it on her head. "Yeah, they were a little more than we could handle at the moment. They surprised us but it won't happen again."

"Um, I have a question. Why is it that I can't move very well?"

"Well we brought in Orihime to heal you, but she couldn't only do so much, so Urahara gave you some type of medicine that would make it so you wouldn't feel your pain when you woke up. It should be wearing off soon though."

Rukia moved he arm and didn't feel the actual sensation of it moving. "I feel numb all over."

"That's the medicine at work." Ichigo said and laughed.

Rukia smiled but as she tried to laugh something felt like it shattered in her abdomen. She let out a loud scream. Ichigo jumped her side as she started to hyperventilate.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I need more medicine!"

...

Sasuke felt a huge wave of relief when he finally got back to his house. It stood as a beacon of normality in all its shining glory. He inwardly smiled as he pushed open the wooded door.

"Mom, dad, I'm home." Sasuke said as he closed the door behind him. He threw his back pack on the table and walked through the kitchen but saw that no one was there. He looked into a few of the other rooms but saw that they were empty as well. He walked back into the kitchen and opened the fridge, grabbing a soda and sitting at the table.

It took him a second to notice it but he saw a note on the fridge clearly written in his parents hand writing. They were gone on a business trip, as per usual. They weren't really homebodies and needed to travel all the time. Home was just where they stayed for extended periods when not on a trip.

Sasuke finished his soda and walked up the stairs to his room. He threw himself on his bed and watched the ceiling for a moment. He could feel his eye lids growing heavy but he couldn't fall asleep, not yet. But in the end it wasn't his choice and he drifted off, clearly exhausted from all the fighting he'd done today.

_You're not tired after those small fights, are you, Sasuke?_

Sasuke cringed. Not this again, he thought barely conscious at this point. Why did this guy pop up when he it was the worst time for him. It must be his job to make Sasuke sleep deprived.

_"What do you want? I thought you were gone, you know haven't heard from you in a few days, not that I'm complaining or anything."_

The inner voice laughed a dark laugh that sounded different than the last time. It was darker and with a hint of hate in it.

_ No matter how much you try to repress me I cannot be erased. No amount of therapy could make me go away. We're one, Sasuke Uchiha, and nothing can change that._

_ "Don't you have off switch or something?"_

The dark laughter echoed in his mind again and started to fade without an answer. Sasuke didn't need an answer, he was just glad he was gone, and there was silence again. But there wasn't silence, not with a faint sound coming from downstairs. He couldn't tell what was causing the noise but he could almost hear two voices.

Sasuke shot up and walked silently out into the hallway. The sound grew louder with each step he took towards the living room, which is where he supposed it was coming from. As soon as he stepped on the top step of the stairway he recognized the sound as being the TV. Was someone home? He hadn't left the TV on, did he?

He could make out one of the two voices as he walked through the dining room and into the kitchen. It was definitely his sister Isami, but the other voice was also a girl's – which made him feel a whole lot better for some reason – sounded faintly familiar.

As Sasuke stepped into the living room he noticed two things. One, Tatsuki was laughing with Isami at some reality television show they were watching, and two, Isami's eyes were no longer blue.

"Oh, Sasuke, I didn't know you were home, were you sleeping?" Isami asked.

"Sorry did we wake you?"

Sasuke moved his gaze from Isami's eyes and focused on Tatsuki's question. "How'd you know I was asleep?"

Isami placed her hand on top of her head and ran it through her hair. Sasuke touched his hair and realized her assumption. His hair felt like it was all over the place, but that wasn't caused by bed head, it was from the fighting. He'd completely forgotten about that.

Tatsuki and Isami shared another laugh as Sasuke started to smooth out his hair with a slight tinge of red in his cheeks. He'd never been embarrassed before, what's going on?

_Don't tell me you have a crush, Sasuke?_

_ "Shut up!"_

Sasuke walked towards the girls and took a seat on the recliner opposite of them. He yawned for a moment and as he stretched he realized just how sore that fighting had made him. He found his eyes focusing on Isami's eyes again. They were onyx, just like his, and just like their parents. The color isn't what didn't make sense. The fact that he was so sure they were blue before is what was eating away at his mind.

"So your sister was telling me stories about the last place you guys moved from. You had some strange friends." Tatsuki said and smirked.

Sasuke looked at her as if she was trying to tell him something discretely. "Yeah, they were pretty strange."

"Are you really a black belt?"

Sasuke smirked. "Yeah, in multiple styles, why?"

"Just curious, you know I'm one too? You have to show me some techniques sometime." Tatsuki said. Her voice sounded different than gloating somehow.

Isami look between the two and smiled. "Oh, so you never told me, how'd your date go?"

Sasuke stiffened. He totally forgot that he'd gone on a date today. "It was... interesting."

"That's one way of putting it," Isami ran to the fridge and pulled out three sodas. "I heard you saved her life from the building that caught fire and now she's in love with her hero."

"Not exactly what happened," Sasuke said.

Isami's eyes shifted for a moment and Sasuke caught them moving to Tatsuki. Her hands tightened for a moment Sasuke noticed. He didn't feel anything around him though. He shifted uncomfortably and grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and noticed he had two missed calls, both from numbers he didn't recognize.

"Who're you calling?" Isami asked as he raised his phone to his ear.

The first voice came through loud and clear on his phone.

_Hey, Sasuke, it's Urahara I'm just calling you to let you know that some soul reapers have been spotted in town and they may have picked up on your soul pressure. I'm sending Yoruichi, a friend of mine, to help you out._

The first message ended and the second started to play.

_Hey it's Urahara again. There's been a strange disturbance recently, and it's not the same one from before. The energy feels entirely different. Yoruichi is checking it out but I thought you should have a heads up. Anyway, if you're wondering how I got your number, don't overthink it kid._

The phone hung up and was silent again. He put it down, not really sure what to think of that. He couldn't deal with another threat already. The first one hadn't even had time to set in. Why was this town so messed up?

"Who was it?" Isami asked.

"Just a friend of mine, giving me a heads up on something." Sasuke said, he hated lying to his sister but if he told her the truth she wouldn't believe him anyway and neither would their guest.

"Actually I was wondering something." Tatsuki asked, "Have either of you seen Orihime today, I was supposed to visit her."

Sasuke and Isami both shook their heads.

"I guess I should check if she's home." Tatsuki said, "It was nice hanging out with you both, and I hope we can do it again sometime."

Tatsuki got up and waved as she walked out of their house. It grew silent once more between the two. Isami reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell before Sasuke could even try to start up awkward conversation. She got up and walked up to her room with her phone pressed against her ear.

Sasuke was alone. He just stared at the screen in front of him. He picked up the remote and shut it off.

...

The dark sky line of Kakura town was beautiful or at least Yoruichi thought so as she jumped from roof top to roof top with Sui-Feng. She got the call from Kisuke and it seemed important, so she was running to check it out. She'd pinpointed the energy to not far from town. It appeared to be coming from the bridge that led into town.

She moved hastily from roof to roof and watched the people under her silently. They would never even know she was there. None of them could even see her but she kept silence as her best asset for this kind of mission.

Was it a mission? More like a favor to Kisuke, but she'd already done so much for him. He helped her, that much was true, but after everything they'd been through she expected more. Not much, but more than a thank you.

Yoruichi stopped just shy of the bridge and looked over her shoulder to make sure that Sui-Feng was still following.

"Is this it, lady Yoruichi?" Sui-Feng asked.

Yoruichi nodded. "This is definitely where the power is coming from."

Yoruichi rushed onto the bridge and felt the energy getting closer. It was hard to describe the energy that she felt. It wasn't like soul pressure, but it was close in a way.

Yoruichi and Sui-Feng stopped as they noticed a figure hiding in the shadows. They couldn't make out a face underneath the hood they were but they could definitely see those eyes in the dark of the night. The eyes that gleamed at Yoruichi like two tiny moons.

...

A/N: Hey, sorry about the really late update, but hey if you head over to my profile I have a poll up for this story and it has to do with the pairing. So if you're interested in who Sasuke could end up with, go vote please. And thanks to all for reading this story, it will get much better I promise.


	9. Chapter 9

Ch. 9 – A Sweet Blend

"The hardships that I encountered in the past will help me succeed in the future."

Philip Emeagwali

...

The moonlight streamed in through Sasuke's uncovered window. He'd been staring out at the sky for no reason in particular. The sight of the starry sky though sent a rivet of emotion through him that he's never felt before. And a tremendous sensation of déjà vu washed through him as he did so.

He's stared at the night sky before; not like the feeling of déjà vu would be so out of place with something he's done so many times since he was a kid. The night sky somehow felt more familiar that night. The stars shining back at him bore a signal straight to his aching mind.

Sasuke didn't know what he felt but the same questions played through his mind over and over again. Who were these people? Why are they after him? And most important when had he obtained a gigai?

The last one bothered him a lot because so far his world played it off as it was normal. Sasuke had no idea why his parents or sister didn't seem to know the difference. He didn't know until he was pulled from it. It wasn't a pleasant experience either. It kind of felt like getting the air knocked out of you and when he reentered his gigai it was like taking a long needed first breath after being underwater, it even left a small pressure on you until you got used to it again.

There were far too many questions going through his mind but none of it made any sense. He'd been trying to act normal for the past week and so far he was doing well but he could feel the weight of it all coming down on his shoulders. Isami was acting different too, he noticed. And not just the fact that her eyes changed from blue to the Uchiha black, but that was definitely something on his mind.

She was very tense the last time she saw him. They had a pretty basic relationship as far as sibling relationships went. Sasuke even felt sometimes like she looked up to him. She was by far though the more gullible of the two and the know it all. He couldn't remember the last time she'd let him be right about anything. Even though he was right every time, he just felt the need to let her win, something about her smile.

Sasuke pulled away from the window and lied back on his bed. Staring at the ceiling wasn't really much of a change from staring at the stars but he was tired of craning his neck upward. It wasn't such a hassle that it would matter but he was also very tired from his fight earlier that day.

Still tired, that was kind of a sad thought.

Knock, knock, and knock.

Sasuke heard the sound of something against his window. But how could that be? His room was on the second floor and there were no trees near enough for someone to climb up to see him. He sat up and looked out the window.

A woman seemed to be standing on air just outside of his window. She knocked again and this time he could see her face a little more clearly. She had black hair and seemed to be looking directly at him. Sasuke shook his head and unlocked the window.

Pushing it open he said, "Who are you?"

He noted the clearly soul reaper garb. That could explain the floating on air.

The girl looked at him with a sweet smile. "Um, are you Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sasuke frowned, not really sure how to answer this. He could just say yes, and that would probably be the easiest thing to say, but he didn't really like handing out his name, especially to people who stalking outside of his window.

"I think I need a name first before I'm willing to give out my own." Sasuke said and sat up fully.

The girl looked confused before she bowed slightly with a red tint on her cheeks. "Oh, yes my apologies. My name is Momo Hinamori and I was sent by the Gotei thirteen to-".

Sasuke sighed. "Oh, this again, well at least you're nicer than the last one they sent."

"They already sent someone? They told me I was the first." Momo said and slouched in the air with a hand to her chin.

"So, Momo, if you don't mind," Sasuke said. "I really don't want to have a fight right now, especially not in my bedroom."

"Oh this is your bedroom?" Momo leaned forward and looked around the room. "May I enter?"

Sasuke stood and walked away from his window. "What are you a vampire? Do you need an invitation?"

Momo peered at him and tilted her head. "A vampire, no, I'm a soul reaper. I just thought I would be respectful."

Sasuke signaled with his hands. "You may enter my humble abode."

The girl smiled as she climbed through the window and into his room. She looked around with the same curious smile. "You have a very nice room, Sasuke."

"Thanks," Sasuke pulled out the chair at his desk for her to sit in. He really wasn't in a mood for a fight, he was irritated as it was, but somehow her smile made it harder for him to be angry.

"Thank you," she said and took the seat. "I was specifically sent by the head captain, he says that you will be safer with us than out here without any protection."

Sasuke looked into the girl's eyes. "I doubt that highly. How do they know about me anyway?"

Momo looked away from his serious gaze. "We got some Intel from a member of squad two saying there was a new soul reaper in hiding in the world of the living. They wanted to bring you in and train you before the people that are after you get a chance to attack again. They want to prepare you and you kind of need the training anyway."

Sasuke frowned at that statement. "I don't want to go to the soul society, not yet anyway; I've still got too much to do."

The girl puffed out her lower lip. "What are you talking about? You've got us all wrong, we don't want to take you back to the soul society. That would take too long for us to train you there. We wanted to bring in some soul reapers to watch over you and train you here."

Sasuke lied back on his bed again. "So are you one of the ones they sent?"

Sasuke could see Momo nod from the corner of his gaze. He didn't like the idea of needing to be protected but it was a nice notion.

"The others are much stronger than I am. I was sent for your kido training. The others should be here tomorrow." Momo said, "I was sent early so that you wouldn't be freaked out by so many strong fighters coming at you at once. Plus, they said I have a sweet face whatever that means." She smiled again.

Well they weren't lying. She had big round comforting eyes and a demeanor that could calm an enraged serial killer. Not that she would ever be in a situation like that most likely. She seemed more than capable of handling herself in a fight and with her being sent to train him, she must be good.

"Will I have to come back to the soul society after we're done here?" Sasuke asked.

Momo looked around and nodded as if she were embarrassed. "Yes, you're a soul reaper, and not alive anymore. We require that you go in for training. I'm sorry."

Sasuke sighed. He knew it would happen eventually, but he wasn't prepared for it yet. Not with his family still here. He had so much to do before he could leave. His head was swimming again with the possibilities and what he would gain by going to the soul society. His questions could be answered there.

"So when do we start training?"

"First thing in the morning," Momo said.

...

The view from the Karakura bridge was amazing, especially at night, but that's not what Yoruichi's eyes were focused on at the moment. The steady gaze from the hooded figure standing before them hadn't left them since they've run into them.

"State your business here!" Sui-Feng commanded as she raised her zanpakuto.

A voice, softer than they expected spoke, "I-I'm looking for someone."

Yoruichi looked from the hooded figure to Sui-Feng and back to the moony eyes. "We need a name before we can start to trust you."

The hooded figure stepped into the light of the moon. She wore a long dark cloak that hid most of her features but it was clear she was a girl from the way she moved and her voice. The ends of black hair could be seen escaping through her hood and over her shoulders.

The tips of her fingers touched together before separating and staying at her side. Both soul reapers readied like she would attack at any moment.

"My name is Hinata Hyuga and I've come to watch over Sasuke Uchiha." She said and stood her ground.

"Sasuke, but what do you want with him?" Yoruichi asked.

"He's," she paused for a moment. "H-He's someone important to me."

Sui-Feng scoffed and threw a glare at Hinata. "I don't think your story holds up. Who could care about that guy other than his family?"

Hinata's cheek reddened and her fists tightened but softened as she spoke almost as if to match her voice. "I- he's like family to me."

Sui-Feng peered at the nervous girl, "I'm sorry but he's a soul reaper now. Whatever affiliation you had to him when he was alive doesn't matter anymore."

"It's my mission to watch over Sasuke. I have to make s-sure he's okay." Hinata said.

"The soul society is watching over him now. You are just interfering now. And I would advise you against get in the way of the soul societ-."

"Sui-Feng, if this girl wants to help us watch over Sasuke who are we to tell her no?" Yoruichi said, "It's not like she'll really get in the way."

Sui-Feng scoffed again before dropping her attitude entirely when looked at Yoruichi. "As you wish, Lady Yoruichi, but I'll have to notify the soul society that she's here."

Hinata bowed. "T-Thank you, Miss Sui-Feng, for understanding."

"Yeah, whatever kid. Just stay out of trouble."

"Oh, b-before you go. I have one last thing to ask you." Hinata asked, "Can you not tell him that I'm here. I have to stay under cover and since I've already been discovered there isn't much I can do."

Yoruichi smiled. "Sure, I think we can do that."

Hinata bowed as the two soul reapers disappeared into the night.

...

Isami stood at the foot of a shrine. She whispered a prayer to the silence of the night. She should have been at home with her brother but the night had called to her. So she'd gone on a walk and found herself at a shrine in the dead of night.

Sasuke would freak if he knew that she was outside this late at night. The city was as safe as could be, not counting the hollows that prowled the streets, but it was still safer than where they'd come from before.

The city seemed more like home than any other place she'd ever lived before. And they'd only been there barely two weeks. She made many friends and not to mention made friends with the neighbor, who Sasuke seemed confused about.

They were friends it seemed, but Sasuke was weird with people he didn't know very well. It was an Uchiha trait, she knew. For she, herself, had similar moments. She was happy enough to meet new people, but guarded.

As soon as she finished her prayer she felt it. Another presence somewhere nearby, where she was unsure, but it was there. Isami stood and turned as she recognized the familiarity of the presence.

A smile tugged her lips upward. "I never expected to see you here."

Slowly a person came out of the shadows to stand before Isami. "I never expected you to be out here at this time of night."

"I'm old enough to make my own decisions." Isami said.

"No, you're not," The figure said. "You should be at home in bed, trying to be as comfortable as possible."

"Don't try to babysit me, Hinata. I'm older than I look you know." Isami said puffing out her bottom lip.

"But not by much," Hinata said with a reassuring smile.

"Almost as old as you," she said.

"Almost," Hinata smiled back at the girl.

Isami calmed herself and shared a look with Hinata the girl she hadn't expected to see. "So did they send you to watch over Sasuke?"

Hinata nodded.

"So do they still expect something to happen?"

"They don't expect anything, but they were worried about both of your safety."

Isami scratched the ground with her foot. "We're fine, actually. There was run in with some people from a past I want to forget but other than that we've had no problems."

"That's good to hear, but would you mind me being here for a little while before I head back?" Hinata said with a faint red dusting her cheeks.

"You still want to see him?"

Hinata nodded and Isami led the way back to their house.


	10. Chapter 10

Ch. 10 – Into Motion

"Never mistake motion for action".

Ernest Hemingway

Hinata's moony gaze fell upon his window. All she could see was his arm in the window but there was no doubt that he wasn't really asleep. He was probably just staring at the ceiling. Something that Sasuke would definitely do when he couldn't sleep. She wondered if the nightmares still plagued him, maybe not, but then what was keeping him awake at night?

She wanted to get closer but she knew that could compromise the mission. And she couldn't do that, not when she'd come this far, and how much chakra it took to get her here. It would all be for naught if she failed now.

Isami had led her here in hopes of helping but really all it did was make her sad that she couldn't talk to him. He didn't even know she was here, which was a surprise considering the incredible alertness of the Uchiha. She'd never once been able to get the drop on him before even with her own abilities.

"I'm sorry," Isami said.

Hinata just shook her head. "It's fine. I don't know what I expected. At least he's okay. The others will be glad."

She looked up again and saw the silhouette of his body moving away from the window. He was gone for the moment and Isami waved as she ran inside. Of course he probably just realized she was missing this whole time. She smiled as she faded into the shadows of the night and out of sight.

...

Sasuke awoke to a sun shining through his open window. Why it was open he didn't know and what time it was also evaded him. He reached for his cell phone but found it was missing as well.

Ever he ever believed in waking up on the wrong side of the bed this would be one of those occasions. It's not that the light was really annoying him but just the way its obnoxious rays fell into his eyes was more than he wanted to deal with in the morning.

It was Saturday so he and Isami didn't have school. Which was good because, according to the girl that came in through his window he'd have training today, and that thought was enough to pull him out of bed earlier than he'd wanted to be. Training seemed to excite him more than it should have.

Sasuke stood and closed the curtains before getting dressed and heading to the bathroom. He came back with a tooth brush in his mouth and finished before shutting off the bathroom light and heading downstairs.

Momo, he couldn't recall her last name, said that his first training exercise would be with Kisuke Urahara. Which was good because at least he knew the man, not on a personal level, but at least he wouldn't be training under someone he didn't know at all? Though he wouldn't be the only one training him, and that thought was enough for Sasuke to be a little on edge.

Sasuke stepped around the corner and saw the living room vacant of his kid sister. He walked through the living room and into kitchen to make some breakfast. He grabbed a box of cereal and the milk out of the fridge and made a bowl.

As soon as he was finished he ran toward to door after grabbing his soul candy dispenser.

"Where are you going?"

Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks and turned to the soft voice of his kid sister. She wore sweat pants and pink slippers. She looked so out of place in them and almost made Sasuke crack a smile.

"I have plans with some friends today, can you handle being home alone for a little while?" Sasuke watched her as she put her hands on her hips.

"Which friends? Because I know Ichigo and the others are out of town on family trips, at the same time, which is kind of weird."

"There friends I made outside of school. You wouldn't know them," Sasuke said.

"You're not going to see a girl are you?"

He didn't know that for sure. Sasuke had no idea who he would be training with. A girl might be his trainer, he didn't know, but Urahara would be training for the day so he was sure that it wasn't a girl. So at least he wouldn't be lying to her.

"No, why would you even think that?" Sasuke raised an eye brow as he scowled at her. She hated when he did that.

"You know you never called the last girl you dated back." Isami said, "You can't just keep hurting girls like that. You should at least tell her that you don't want to see her anymore, not just ignore and avoid her."

Wait avoid who? That girl he went on a date with, but he wasn't avoiding her, he just had other things on his mind. There were many different things going on his world right now. For one, he was being hunted down by a group of powerful fighters, and two, that girl would be better off not knowing him. He was going to have a hard enough time protecting Isami if they ever came for her.

"I'm not avoiding her. I just have a lot of things on my mind right now." Like a literal voice inside his head that hates when he tries to sleep or get any kind of rest.

Isami huffed and looked down. "Y-you need to stop playing games with these girls you know?"

What girls, Sasuke thought? He'd only been on the one date and he hadn't led on any girls by accident had he? Not that he was aware of anyway. Though there seemed to be girls flocking to his side a little too much at the school, like three or four, but he had ignored them, as he always had.

The only girls he talked to on a regular basis were Tatsuki, Orihime, and Rukia, not counting his sister. And those conversations weren't even anything special, just normal stuff, though it did seem Rukia seemed so shy around him. Same with Tatsuki, which was strange considering all the stories he'd heard about how her personality was, and how she acted around him, maybe it was a coincidence.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sasuke said and opened the door. "I really need to go. We have plenty of food in the fridge, if you get bored you can have one friend over, not two, or three, but one. Also, you can't leave the house, unless it's an emergency, got it?"

Isami sighed and nodded. She walked over to her brother and gave him a hug. He patted her head in return and closed the door behind him. He looked up to the sky as he walked towards the shop.

...

Four members sat around a long table centered between them. Mason, the leader of the group, sat at the head of the table, folded his arms over his chest as he prepared to speak.

"We have located Sasuke Uchiha, and we now know where he resides." He said, "Phase one of the plan is now complete."

The other three members in the room turned to him with the slightest hint of enthusiasm on their faces. He took it as a sign to continue.

"We were sent here to retrieve the Uchiha, as he is now we can still over power him as long as we use our unleashed abilities. But remember he isn't the only power around here that will pose a problem."

The man with the dark brown hair looked up from his previous bored state. "But I did fight with him, and he's still pretty strong even without his shikai, Mason. If he ever mastered bankai-"

"Then we cannot allow him to get that far." Mason turned to the only female member of their group and said, "Olivia, can I expect you to trail him this time without engaging?"

The purple haired woman nodded. "Of course, but how do you want me to go about it?"

"You know exactly what I want. As for Lance and Ivan I need you two to prepare for his capture and fight off anyone who tries to interfere. We need him alive, so don't make anything that may kill him during our travels but anyone else you may kill as long as you don't make too big of a scene." Mason said, and crossed his arms over his chest again.

Ivan huffed and leaned back. "Man, I just want to crush this kid, why can't we?"

"Because that will compromise the mission, and you know the penalty for that, don't you, Ivan?" Mason looked at him with a serious scowl. "Now that the plan has been set, let's go."

They disappeared from that dingy room and went off to complete the mission.

...

The walk to the Urahara shop wasn't a long one. Of course it helped that he was stuck in thought and didn't pay attention to the time passing by. It could have taken him an hour but he was so lost in thought that it seemed far shorter.

He'd been arguing with the voice in his head about the girls he'd supposedly led on. The voice just loved to taunt him to insanity. If he could just find a way to ignore it he would gladly, but unlucky for him, that wasn't possible. The voice was starting to taunt him in different ways now.

It loved to pop up at the worst moments too. Almost every conversation he had with a girl he could hear the voice wanting to scream at him. If it got worse he'd have to get some pills for it but that was only if he couldn't handle it.

The sign in front of Urahara's shop said closed but he knew better and knocked on the door. A few moments later the little girl opened the door and gave him a wide eyed expression. He stared at her blankly before she moved out of the way and invited him inside.

"The boss is down in the training room." She said, and pointed to where Sasuke should go.

Sasuke saw the familiar ladder and climbed it down to the gigantic open room. He was still amazed such a room could exist under ground. Soon he was greeted by Urahara himself and the woman standing next to him. He recognized her as Yoruichi, the girl that saved him from the crazy soul reaper before.

"Sasuke, glad you could make it." Urahara said, "And you look like you haven't been sleeping well?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke said. "Can we just get to the training?"

Urahara shook his head. "Sheesh, yeah we'll start soon. Be patient, it's a virtue."

Yeah, that's easy to say when you're not the one being targeted by a group bent on killing you. Though that may not be true as well, he didn't know if Urahara had any enemies, assuming he acted this way with everyone, then he assumed he had many.

"We'll start your training with speed training." Kisuke raised his fan and threw it passed Sasuke's face. He tilted his head and dodged the sharpened fan as it stuck into the wall behind him.

Sasuke placed his hand on his sword and readied to fight Urahara.

"What are you doing, Sasuke? I'm not the one training you."

Sasuke turned from him mid swing. "Then who-"

Yoruichi landed a kick inches from where Sasuke had been standing a few seconds before leaving a crater where her fit had hit.

"That would be me," She said. "And your first lesson starts now."

...

A/N: I have still have the pull up on my page and it will be up till the end of next month or when the first one of the choices reaches ten votes with a three vote lead over the next top vote. So please go and vote on that poll please to help the story proceed and check out my other stories if you haven't already.


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